ee 
< on 
& eae _—— > 
o = — 
‘2 ts: 
~ 2 


- 


Lal 
ts 


J. 
A v 
ee 


vey 
va 


Se s 
aoe eee re, ee 


se oe 
= 


corte 
* 


~ 


oe 
= 


ty 1 
nibs 
oY, 

s 


vey ey 


Fon meee 


4 


Re cet eer aee ge el ae a noma vi ~ oe 
EES SAS 


ee A ee 


THE 


STATESMAN’S BOOK 


OF 


JOHN OF SALISBURY 


POLITICAL SCIENCE CLASSI 
Already published: 


CHINESE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 
By William S. A. Pott 


AN ENQUIRY CONCERNING POLITICAL JUSTICE 
By William Godwin 


edited by Raymond A. Preston; 2 Vols. 


POLICRATICUS 
By John of Salisbury 


edited by John Dickinson 


In Preparation: 


POLITICAL WRITINGS OF JAMES WILSON 
edited by Randolph G. Adams 


TRACTATUS POLITICUS 
By Spinoza 
edited by Albert G. A. Balz 


DE RE PUBLICA 
By Cicero 


edited by George H. Sabine 
and Stanley B, Smith 


POLITICAL SCIENCE CLASSICS 


ISSUED UNDER THE GENERAL EDITORSHIP OF LINDSAY ROGERS, 
OF THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 


The STATESMAN’S BOOK 
of JOHN OF SALISBURY 


Being the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Books, and Selections | 
from the Seventh and Eighth Books, of the 


POLICRATICUS 


Translated into English with an Introduction by 


JOHN DICKINSON, A.M., Pu.D. [Princeton] 
LL.B. [Harvard] 


Lecturer and Tutor in Harvard University; sometime Charlotte 
Elizabeth Proctor Fellow in Princeton University 


New Yorx - ALFRED - A+ KNOPF - Memxxvu 


* 


COPYRIGHT 10927, BY ALFRED A, (KNOPF ene 
SET UP, PRINTED AND BOUND BY THE VAIL-BALLOU 
PRESS, INC., BINGHAMTON, N. Y 
NISHED BY H. 


.° PAPER FUR} 
LINDENMEYR & SONS, NEW YORK 


MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


TO 
woe W FLEMING WEST 
Teacher: Builder: Humanist, 


in gratitude and affection. 


PoProlORTAL FOREWORD 


The following translation of the earliest, and one of the most 
influential of medizval treatises on politics, should have a prac- 
tical rather than an antiquarian interest. The political thought 
and institutions of the Middle Ages are receiving increased at- 
tention from modern students. This is as it should be, for cer- 
tain theories and problems of the Twelfth Century are not with- 
out their Twentieth Century parallels. Such a connection be- 
tween widely separated epochs gives a more concrete meaning 
to the phrase “the unity of history.” It is not necessary to 
multiply examples. Anthropologists investigating the life of 
primitive peoples throw fresh light on present day behavior. 
Historians of the Roman Empire deal with problems which now, 
as they did then, result from an enlargement of the area of 
human intercourse. Scholars in different fields are continually 
unearthing streams of tendency and development which in hid- 
den ways exert their modern influences from the graves of a 
past that refuses to die. The Policraticus has its modern appli- 
cations, and not the least apposite ones are in the United States. 

Too definite a connection, of course, should not be insisted 
upon, but the main lines, though dim, are unmistakable. Re- 
cent political theorists have sung the requiem of the unitary sys- 
tem of the Renaissance nation-state. Whether the wrong music 
was chosen, or whether the chorus was premature remains to be 
seen. It cannot be denied, however, that we now have divers- 
ities and multiplicities of interests that put heavy strains on the 
political institutions of the modern state. Internally, the state 
must avoid dissolving into a welter of competing groups, while 


externally these same groups reach across national boundaries 
vil 


Vill Editorial Foreword 


and threaten other states. What emerges even more clearly 
is that amid such confusion, the mechanism for the orderly 
expression and adjustment of the wills of the different groups 
breaks down. ‘The problems to be decided are too complicated, 
the wills are too numerous and too irreconcilable, and the hu- 
man capacity for attention is too limited. Thus an increasing 
number of pessimistic writers are doubting whether public 
opinion is a possible, or, if possible, whether it is a safe motive 
force for political institutions. Cries are becoming more nu- 
merous that “democracy” is breaking down, and there are tend- 
encies to seek automatic good government either in the rule of 
“experts” administering a supposedly satisfactory set of ready 
made scientific principles, or in the personal excellence of a 
supposed superman vested with the powers of a dictator. These 
alternatives represent a recrudescence of ideas prevalent in the 
early Middle Ages, under conditions of confusion in many ways 
similar to our own, and before machinery for organized group 
action had yet been evolved. : 

There is also, as has been said, an added interest for Ameri- 
cans in the study of such medizval ideas. In the United States 
there are at work the forces of complexity and confusion which 
are incidental to modern life everywhere, but medizval ideas 
are also encouraged by our special form of government. The 
American Constitution puts no premium on government by dis- 
cussion ; it makes difficult the formulation of enlightened pub- 
lic opinion. Whether wisely or no, we do in fact use govern- 
mental machinery which is so checked and balanced that it can 
respond only at fixed intervals and when public pressure is espe- 
cially strong. We rely to a much greater degree than do other 
political systems on a body of higher kaw supposed to be evolved 
from written constitutions by the expert consciousness of 
judges. We resort in times of stress to the personal power of 
a President, who is thought to represent and act for the whole 
nation in a way denied to our representative assemblies. The 


Editorial Foreword ix 


country desires these assemblies to be as little in evidence as pos- 
sible. We seem to crave executive authority and prefer to be 
told rather than argued with. 

For these reasons, the lamp of the Middle Ages burns with 
a light that may illumine our present. The lamp, however, has 
been neglected. With one exception, this volume is the first 
modern translation of an important medizeval political treatise 
to appear in English. Mr. Dickinson brings to his editorial 
task the equipment of an original training in the classics fol- 
lowed by graduate studies in political science and law, and by 
several years of active legal practice. He deals with the Poli- 
craticus as a student of politics rather than of philology, and 
applies to twelfth century institutions and ideas a practical as 
well as a theoretical knowledge of the problems of constitutional 


law and government. 
Bik: 


Pe Lo BALC E 


The aim of this book is to make available for a wider circle 
of readers an outstanding medieval treatise on politics. The 
political literature of the middle ages has no such compelling 
and universal human appeal as belongs to the great master- 
pieces of classical political thought; but from the narrower 
stand-point of political science it is at least equally deserving ot 
study. The medizval literature represents not the lonely in- 
sight of great thinkers, but the commonplace ideas which ruled 
the common minds of men for long centuries and wrote them- 
selves indelibly into abiding institutions ; and it must not be for- 
gotten that the modern world is the direct heir of medizeval in- 
stitutions and ideas, while it is the heir of classical antiquity 
only indirectly. The Policraticus has more light to shed on the 
issues of 1688 and 1789 than either the Republic of Plato or 
the Politics of Aristotle. 

The increased attention paid to social history by the newer 
schools of historical writers has served to emphasize the im- 
portance of the history of thought; and this means not so much 
the history of the systematic theories of particular thinkers as 
of the broad currents of thought which, coming to the surface 
with varying emphasis in the writings of different individuals, 
can yet be said to underlie and characterize the whole culture 
of a period. From this stand-point the history of thought dur- 
ing the middle ages, and especially of political thought, is of 
the utmost consequence; for it represents the seed-plot of 
many, if not most, of the ideas and attitudes which became ex- 
plicit for practical effectiveness in later periods. The signifi- 

x1 


te 


Xl Preface 


cance of the Policraticus is that it contains the inchoate and in- 
cipient forms of so large a number of the political doctrines 
which were to identify themselves with greater clarity in later 
centuries. 

Considerations of space have made it impossible to present 
here more than approximately half of the entire treatise. 
While the amputation has eliminated some of the finest parts, 
notably the chapters on philosophy at the commencement of 
the Seventh Book, the plan and scope of the work minimize 
the loss for the student of politics. The political thought of the 
Policraticus is loosely embedded in a general discussion of man- 
ners and philosophy in such a way that it has proved easy to 
separate and present here in their entirety all the directly political 
sections without doing violence to the integrity or consecutiveness 
of the treatment. The result is a practically self-contained 
treatise, disengaged from a mass of other materials which, how- 
ever important from the standpoint of literary history, have only 
an indirect political relevance. 

The text used for the translation is that of Professor Clement 
C. J. Webb’s monumental edition, Oxford, 1909. The exist- 
ence of Professor Webb’s elaborate annotations, as well as the 
specialized purpose for which the present translation is in- 
tended, have led me to restrict the footnotes, with a few ex- 
ceptions, to indicating the sources of direct quotations. For 
convenience of reference biblical citations, except to the apo- 
cryphal books, are to the Revised Version rather than to the 
Douai version. In the case of proper names an effort has been 
made to reproduce the spelling of Professor Webb’s text. In 
the Introduction I have resisted the temptation to duplicate bio- 
graphical, historical and critical material which is easily available 
elsewhere. I have rather tried to indicate the place of the Poli- 
craticus in the development of political thought and to show its 
connection with preceding and subsequent theories. I have em- 
phasized especially the theory which it contains of the relation 


ee 70 0°€ xill 


between law and government and its doctrine of a “higher law ;” 
not only because of the perennial importance of this set of prob- 
lems for political science, but more particularly because it was 
this aspect of the thought of the Policraticus which first seriously 
attracted my attention in the course of preparing my book on 
Administrative Justice and the Supremacy of Law (Harvard 
University Press, 1927), a treatment of some of the current 
aspects of the same problem. 

For counsel and aid in making the translation I am under 
many obligations. Chief among these is my deep indebtedness 
to Professor Edward Kennard Rand who generously supplied 
comments and suggestions on a large number of passages which 
seemed to me to leave room for differences of opinion. For 
similar aid in special fields I am indebted to Professors Ephraim 
Emerton, George LaPiana, Charles H. McIlwain and Chandler 
R. Post. I have had the satisfaction throughout my task of 
receiving from Professor Haskins a constant encouragement 
which, from such a source, supplied the highest incentive to 
workmanship. Professor Alfred O’Rahilly of University 
College, Cork, Ireland, called my attention to a number of 
matters which wouid otherwise have escaped me. The editor 
of the series, Professor Lindsay Rogers of Columbia University, 
has exercised his editorial functions with the patience and sym- 
pathy of generous personal friendship; and Mr. Paul B. 
Thomas, of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., the publishers, has shown 
exemplary forbearance and understanding of the details and 
delays incidental to the preparation of a book of this char- 
acter. Apart from these immediate and specific obligations, [I 
have a sense of underlying debt to the teachers whose aid and 
inspiration in the past aroused my interest in the Latin language 
and literature: Edward Lucas White, Esq., of Baltimore, Mary- 
land: Professor Wilfred P. Mustard, of Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity ; and the distinguished scholar who first made me see the 
charm and importance of the Latin literature of the middle ages 


XIV PRC Piew 


in general, and of the Policraticus in particular, and to whom I 
have dedicated this book, Dean West of Princeton. 


Joun DICKINSON 
BRIER HILL, 
ASHFIELD, MASS., 
APRIL, 1927. 


Pa DEN TS 


INTRODUCTION: [HE PLACE OF THE POLICRATICUS IN 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL THOUGHT XVil 
I Tue CoMMONWEALTH XVili 
II THe Law XXV1i 
III Tue Prince anp His GovERNMENT ie 
IV Tue CHurcH lviii 


V Tyranny, TYRANNICIDE, AND INDIVIDUAL LiB- 
ERTY Ixvi 


THE POLICcRATICUS 


TABLE OF CHAPTERS Ixxxv 
Boor, LV. 3 
Book V 63 
Book VI I7I 
Book VII 281 


Boox VIII 335 


PS ERA DUCTION 


THE PLACE OF THE POLICRATICUS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
POLITICAL THOUGHT 1! 


The Policraticus of John of Salisbury is the earliest elaborate 
mediaeval treatise on politics.2 Completed in 1159, the date 
of its composition makes it a landmark in the history of political 
speculation for two reasons. It is the only important political 
treatise written before western thought had once more become 
familiar with the Politics of Aristotle. It thus represents the 

purely mediaeval tradition unaffected by ideas newly bor- 
_ rowed from classical antiquity. It is the culmination in their 
maturest form of a body of doctrines which had evolved in 
unbroken sequence from patristic literature in contact with the 
institutions of the earlier middle ages. In the second. place it 
comes just before the important turning-point in institutional 
development at the end of the twelfth, and at the beginning of 


1LITERATURE: “Joannis Saresberiensis Episcopi Carnotensis Poli- 
cratici, sive de Nugis Curialium et Vestigiis Philosophorum, Libri viii, 
recog. Clemens C. I. Webb, Oxoniti, MCIX,’ hereafter cited as Webb; 
“Johannes Saresberiensis,’ C. Schaarschmidt, Leipzig, 1862; “Die Staats- 
und Kirchenlehre Johanns von Salisbury,” Paul Gennrich, Gotha, 1894; 
“Die Staatslehre Johanns von Salisbury,” Ernst Schubert, Inaug. Diss., 
Berlin, 1897; “John of Salisbury and the Policraticus,” by E. F. Jacob in 
“Social and Political Ideas of Some Great Mediaeval Thinkers,’ ed. F. 
J. C. Hearnshaw, New York, 1923; “History of Mediaeval Political 
Theory in the West,” R. W. and A. J. Carlyle, vol. iii, pp. 136-146, vol. 
Iv, pp. 330-337; “Jllustrations of the History of Mediaeval Thought 
and Learning,” by Reginald Lane Poole, 2 ed., London, 1920. 

2“The first attempt to produce a coherent system which should aspire 
to the character of a philosophy of politics,’ R. Lane Poole, “/llustra- 


tions of Mediaeval Thought,” 2 ed., p. 204. 
xvii 


XVill Introduction 


the thirteenth, century, when legal precision began to be stamped 
on a great number of previously indefinite relationships and 
when feudal independence tended to become consolidated into 
definite organs of political control. It therefore speaks from a 
point of view which was about to disappear, but which it is all 
the more important to understand because it contributed a 
heritage of ideas whose momentum made them, in spite of the 
newer influences, the dominant force in political thought down 
to at least the middle of the sixteenth century. 


I. THE COMMONWEALTH 


The first half of the twelfth century was in some respects the 
great age of conscious feudalism. It is therefore striking that 
there is hardly a trace of contractual feudal theory in the Poli- 
craticus.* It is true that in one passage John of Salisbury ac- 
cepts the feudal doctrine that public offices are transmissible by 
descent like private property ;* in a second he conceives the re- 
lation between the prince and his subjects in terms of the oath 
of fealty ;° in a third he denies the right of tyrannicide to those 
who are bound by fealty to the tyrant. But these passages are 
exceptional ; the whole view of the state which is presented is 
at variance with the conception that there is anything contractual 
or voluntary in its composition. 

The obvious explanation of this failure to mirror a dominant 


contemporary tendency is almost certainly the true one,—namely 


that John represents the standpoint and theory not of purely 
secular politics but of the Church. But this by no means implies 
that his viewpoint is academic or aside from the main currents 


$ This is noted by Schaarschmidt, “Johannes Saresberiensis,” p. 349. 

4 Bk. v, c. 6, infra. 

5 Bk. vi., c. 25, mfra. Dr. Lane Poole goes too far in saying that 
“there is not a trace even of the terminology of feudalism.” “J/lustra- 
tions of Mediaeval Thought,” 2 ed., p. 204. 

6 Bk. vili., c. 20, infra. 


Introduction X1X 


of practical governmental development. On the contrary the 
ecclesiastical theory of the state was a powerful element in 
practical politics throughout the feudal period in opposition to 


| the distinctively feudal theory ; and it was precisely this ecclesias- 


tical theory which was at the basis of the pretensions of national 
monarchy against feudal aggression, and which served to keep 
alive the conception of “commonwealth” during an era of par- 
ticularistic disintegration. Luchaire has pointed out that the 
monarchy of Hugh Capet and his immediate successors was 
royalty of an ecclesiastical character inheriting Roman tradition 
through the channel of church theory, and that at the era of its 
lowest ebb it was prevented by this theory from ever degenerat- 
ing into purely feudal suzerainty.’ From the standpoint. of 
practical development this body of ecclesiastical-Roman doctrine 


is accordingly vital in that it was the doctrine which finally 
emerged triumphant in the triumph of national monarchy ; and 
its statement by John of Salisbury is therefore significant as a 
stage in the transmission of the conception of organic political 
unity from antiquity to modern times. 


The conception of a true political relationship between the 
members of a state as distinguished from the mere network of 
private relations to which feudalism tended to reduce them ® is 
embodied in the survival and use of the term “respublica”’ or 
“commonwealth.” It is the ear-mark of the ecclesiastical- 


‘Roman as opposed to the feudal view; and it occurs repeatedly 


not merely in political treatises written by churchmen, but in the 
official utterances of princes and their ecclesiastical advisers from 
the time of Charlemagne to the date of the Policraticus.° 


7“Tnstitutions Monarchiques,” 2 ed., i, 35-59; Guizot, “Histoire de la 
Civilization en France,” 11th ed., 1860, iii, 290 ff; 312 ff. 

8 Luchaire, in Lavisse, Hist. de France, vol. ii, pt. 2, pp. 7-14. 

%e.g. Hincmar of Rheims, “De Regis Persona et Regio Ministerio,” 
praef., in Migne, P. L., tom. 125, col. 834; Sedulius Scotus, “De Rec- 
toribus Christianis,” c. vi., et passim, Migne, P. L., tom. 103, col. 291 ff; 
speech of Adelbero at election of Hugh Capet, Richer, Chron., ed. 


xx Introduction 


The term implies some grasp of the meaning of political or- 
ganization; and this perception comes to even clearer conscious- 
ness in another kindred conception which reaches its first full 
development in the Policraticus and has generally been treated 
as the most striking feature of John’s political thought,—the 
so-called “organic analogy,” or comparison of the body politic 
‘to a natural organism. 

The organic analogy, which was so congenial to the symbolic 
tendency in mediaeval thought, and which after its first elabora- 
tion in the Policraticus was to reappear with ever increasing re- 
finements down to its culmination in Nicholas of Cues,*° traces 
back in part no doubt to the Christian identification of the 
Church with the body of Christ. The union of Father and 
Son in the Trinity was used to explain the coexistence in the 
“body” of the Church of the temporal and priestly powers.” 
In an introduction to the Institutes of Justinian which Fitting 
attributes to a date between 850 and r1oo, and which he regards 
as representing earlier Byzantine tradition, the different ranks in 
the imperial hierarchy are compared to different parts of the hu- 
man body—the prince to the head, the “illustres” to the eyes, the 
“spectabiles” to the hands, the “clarissimi’” to the thorax, etc. 


Waitz, pp. 132-33; charter of Philip I to Abbey of St. Denis, 1068, “Re- 
ceuil des Actes de Philippe I°",’ ed. Prou, p. 115. The word seems to 
have been transmitted through Augustine, as in the earlier treatises it is 
often found in quotations from his works. See Jonas of Orleans, “De 
Institutione Regia,’ c. xvii. in D’Achéry, Spicilegium, tom. 1., p. 324. 
Jonas’s work is also in Migne, P. L., tom. 106. 

10“De Concordantia Catholica,’ i, cc. 1-6, in Schard, “De Jurisdic- 
tione,”’ pp. 465 ff. 

11 Gierke, “Political Theories of the Middle Age,” tr. Maitland, note 
77. See Rom. xii, 4, 5. 


12 Hugh of Fleury, “Tractatus de Regia Potestate et Sacerdotali Dig- 


nitate,’ Bk. i. cc. 1, 2, M. G. H., Libelli de Lite, vol. ii, p. 468. 

13 Fitting, “Juristische Schriften des friiheren Mittelalters,” Halle, 
1876. p. 148; for date see ibid, p. 98. Cf. also Justinian, Cod., a ee 
quoted in vi, 25, infra, where the senators are referred to by the Em- 
peror as “pars corporis nostri.” 


Introduction XXi 


A similar comparison, but far more elaborate, constitutes the 
framework on which a great part of the political theory of the 
Policraticus is hung. The “commonwealth” is a body “en- 
dowed with life by the benefit of divine favor.” The prince is 
its head, the priesthood its soul. “The place of the heart is 
filled by the Senate, from which proceeds the initiation of good 
works and ill. The duties of eyes, ears and tongue are claimed 
by judges and the governors of provinces. Officials and soldiers 
correspond to the hands. Those who always attend upon the 
prince are likened to the sides. Financial officers may be com- 
pared with the stomach and intestines. .. . The husbandmen 
correspond to the feet which always cleave to the soil.” 1° - 

John claims that he has borrowed this elaborate scheme from a 
“libellus” of Plutarch entitled ‘“Institutio Trajani.”’ 1° No such 
work of Plutarch at present exists or is elsewhere referred to; 
and since John did not know Greek, opinion is divided between 
_ the view that his source was a Latin translation of a compila- 
tion of passages from Plutarch’s writings and the view that it 
was a Latin original masquerading under the name of Plutarch. 
At all events, its adoption into the Policraticus launches the ‘‘or- 
ganic analogy” on a new and triumphant career through the re- 
mainder of the middle ages. 

It seems clear from John’s handling of the organic analogy 
that he had very firmly grasped the conception of the interde- 
pendence of individuals in society. He repeatedly returns to the 
saying that “all are members one of another.” ** “Then and then 
only will the health of the commonwealth be sound and flourish- 
ing . . . when each regards his own interest as best served by 
_what he knows to be most advantageous for the others.” 2° “So 
long as the duties of each individual are performed with an eye 
to the prosperity of the whole, so long, that is, as justice is 

144,.e. Books v and vi. 16 Bk. v., €. 2, infra. 16 Tbid. 


17 Schaarschmidt, op. cit., pp. 123-124; Webb, vol. i, p. 280. 
18 Bk. iv., c. I, infra. AY BEEN, 0.20) rd. 


XXil Introduction 


practiced, the sweetness of honey pervades the allotted sphere 
of all.”°?° “The function of duty is to bring different acts 
into harmony by allotting them to the different individuals to 
whom they are appropriate.” ** And elsewhere in a passage of 
truly poetic eloquence he expresses the harmony of a well- 
ordered society by musical analogies reminiscent of Plato.”* 
And not only does John grasp the functional interdependence 
of the members of society, he grasps also what is more remark- 
able for his age, the need for that basis of psychological unity, 
for that bond of common social feeling, which was to remain 
almost unemphasized in later political thought until Rousseau 
put forth his doctrine of a general will.7* “There can be no 
faithful and firm cohesion,” he says, “where there is not an en- 
during union of wills and as it were a cementing together of 
souls. If this is lacking it is in vain that the works of men 
are in harmony, since hollow pretence will develop into open in- 
jury unless the real spirit of helpfulness is present.” ** In at 
least two places John even uses what we are accustomed to re- 
gard as the characteristically modern term, “public opinion.” ?° 
There is, however, one great difference between John’s con- 
ception of the functional and psychological unity of society and 
the modern conception. John’s view was essentially Platonic. 
The relation between the parts of his organism was a fixed 
and static one. It was built upon, or at least was to be brought 
into conformity with, a pre-established design which he took for 
granted was eternal and immutable. He has no conception of 
any continuous process of reciprocal adaptation whereby the re- 
lations between the different elements in the body politic shall 
gradually alter. The plan is once and for all divinely given, and 
the perfect society is that wherein the members ‘exactly fit them- 
20 Bk. vi. c. 22, infra. 21 Bk. v., c. 4, mfra. 22 Bk. iv., c. 8, infra. 
23 See A. Lawrence Lowell, “Public Opinion and Popular Government,” 


pp. 7-9. 
24 Bk. v. c. 7, infra. 25 Bk. iv., ¢. 8) Bkotv, Gib sere 


Introduction XXill 


selves into the respective niches which it marks out for them. 
And these niches are conceived almost as rigidly as those of 
Plato’s Republic. The great body of the people, the husband- 
men and craftsmen and artisans, are totally divorced from polit- 
ical functions. Their place is “to provide their superiors with 
service just as the superiors in their turn owe it to their inferiors 
to provide them with all things needful for their protection.” 7° 
No channel is supplied whereby their collective views and wishes 
can be brought to bear on the conduct of government. The su- 
preme directing power is concentrated in the hands of the 
prince,”’ who has all power that he may bear the entire respon- 
sibility to God. “Wherefore deservedly there is conferred on 
him and gathered together in his hands the power of all his sub- 
jects to the end that he may be sufficient unto himself in seek- 
ing and bringing about the advantage of each individually and 
Of all: 28 


26 Bk. vi., c. 22, infra. 

27 This Platonic conception became more fully developed in the later 
scholastic theology. The lex aeterna provided a distribution of func- 
tions among individuals according to a sublime plan wherein each had 
an allotted place. It should be the aim of human society to approximate 
as nearly as possible to this great design. The entire universe was con- 
ceived as “under a providential plan, governed by an eternal law which 
is nothing but the order of things, the sum of relations which result 
from the nature of beings. The rationale of governing others must 
therefore be in the final analysis a divine command according to which 
the rulers carry out those necessary functions which will enable the in- 
dividual members to occupy their assigned places in the divine economy.” 
De Wulf, Philosophy and Cwilization in the Middle Ages, Princeton, 
1922, p. 243, and passages from the Summa Theol. of St. Thomas there 
cited. The whole conception goes back to Augustine (see e. g., “De Civ. 
Dei,” xix, 13-14) who made the harmonious co-operation of members of 
society, each in his appointed place, the essential feature of that ideal of 
“pax” which was to be so powerful throughout the Middle Ages. Cf. 
Dante, “De Monarchia,” i, 15. Cf. also John of Salisbury’s conception 
of “duty,” mfra, v, 4. 

28 Bk. iv., c. 1, fra. 


XX1V Introduction 


‘It was therefore only in a passive and not in an active sense 
that John conceived of society as a psychological organism. It 
was not an organism wherein each element contributed of its own 
thought, feeling and aspirations to shape the combined direc- 
tion of the whole. The psychological bond was the passive one 
of contentment, of willingness on the part of each individual 
to fulfill the duties of the station allotted to him in the eternal 
scheme of things. It was in the co-ordination of these different 
duties and their allotment to different individuals and classes 
according to the divine plan that the organic unity of society 
consisted. It was a functional organization, but the functions 
were those of automata which must move only in the direction 
dictated to them by the rational order of the universe. John 
might refuse to take his stand on the side of predestination when 
a clear-cut issue was presented on the question of free-will; ”° 
but when he turned to deal with other problems the tacit pre- 
suppositions of his age were too strong for him and he regarded 
the individual, not to be sure as subordinate to the state, but as a 
mere unit in that universal organization whose design was im- 
plicit in the eternal law. 

A question is thus raised to which John gives no explicit 
answer—what “commonwealth” or society did he have in mind 
in his comparison of the “commonwealth” to an organic body? 
Was it a city, or a province, or a kingdom, or the Roman Em- 
pire, or the Universal Church? One of the chief difficulties 
which we meet throughout the Policraticus is that we can never 
be quite certain of what organization John is at any given mo- 
ment speaking. He avoids any admission that the whole Chris- 
tian world still constitutes a single state, the Roman Empire; 
and when he has occasion to speak of a contemporary emperor 
of the German line he cautiously refers to him as merely “King 


29 Policraticus, Bk. ii, c. 26, “liberum arbitrium manet cum provi- 
dentia.” 


Introduction XXV 


of the Romans.” *° In the same connection he remarks in pass- 
ing that in some manner the “‘principate,’’—1.e., the Empire— 
seems to have been “cut off at the root.’’*' Accordingly, he 
generally appears to have in mind the “provincia” ** as the 
political unit or “commonwealth” whose head, whether bearing 
the title of “rex” or “dux,” is the “prince” of whom he is speak- 
ing. This term “provincia,” suggested undoubtedly by the ter- 
ritorial correspondence of kingdoms like France and England 
to provinces of the older empire, is the designation which the 
later middle ages came regularly to apply to the kind of political 
organization which we should call a “nation-state.” ** But John 
seems to apply the term indifferently to a kingdom like Eng- 
land, which stood under no feudal overlord, and to a territory 
like Brittany ** which was a vassal state. 

Indeed, one of the striking features of John’s political thought 
is the way in which he totally omits to consider the relationships 
between the different political powers, feudal, royal, imperial, 
which were at the moment so hotly contending with one another 
for a demarcation of their respective jurisdictions. The ques- 
tions arising out of their competing claims are completely 
ignored, although these are precisely the first questions which a 
modern political scientist would have set about seeking to answer. 
John seems to have accepted the fact that all were “powers” of 
a temporal as distinguished from a spiritual character, and for 


30 Bk. iv., c. 6, infra. Strictly speaking, this title was technically 
correct, as Conrad was never actually crowned at Rome. But it was 
only from the time of Conrad’s predecessor, Lothair, that the restriction 
of the imperial title to an emperor crowned at Rome commences. Even 
Lothair had in effect used the title before coronation. Waitz, Deutsche 
Verfassungsgeschichte, 2 ed., vi., pp. 106-7, p. 173. 

31 Tbid. 82 Bk. vi., c. 1; Bk. v1.,.c. 24° infra. 

33 Bartolus treats the terms “provincia” and “regnum” as interchange- 
able and as applying to a political group all the members of which are 
not gathered together into a single city. Comment on Const. “Qui sint 
Rebelles,” cited in Woolf, Bartolus of Sassoferrato, p. 124. 

34 Bk, IV., c. 18. infra. 


XXVv1 Introduction 


his purposes that was sufficient. Indeed he makes no clear dis- 
tinction between “political’’ power and the power of rulership 
over such a group as the family, or household, which from the 
modern standpoint is not political at all. He deals with the 
concept of “rulership” in the lump and undifferentiated. The 
rich man, the “dives,” *° ruling over a large household, falls 
within the scope of his treatment as much as and in quite the same 
way as the lord of a province, or a king, or even the emperor 
himself. 

It may be supposed that to some extent this failure to draw 
what we to-day regard as necessary distinctions was a deliberate 
attempt to blink embarrassing questions. It was more than a 
century longer before men became bold enough to proclaim 
openly that the kings of the national “regna” were independent 
of the supremacy of the empire.*® It took several centuries 
before the greater feudal princes in France were willing to 
abandon their claims to a practically complete independence of 
the crown.*’ John of Salisbury’s own king, Henry II, aptly 
illustrates both attitudes. There is some evidence that at one 
time he did lip service to the Emperor ** and at another dallied 
with the prospect of seizing the imperial crown for himself ; 
on the other hand he was almost continually at war with his 
feudal overlord, the King of France.*® Amid such conditions 


35 Bk. v., c. 10; Bk. vi., c. 22, c. 27, infra. 

86 The earliest writers cited by Woolf as advancing the idea are An- 
dreas de Isernia (1220-1316) and Durandus (1237-1296); see Woolf, 
Bartolus of Sassoferrato, p. 373. 

87 See Du Fresne de Beaucourt, Histoire de Charles VIl., tom. it 
pp. 605-606. 

38 Rahewin, Gesta Friderici, iii., c. 7, M. G. H., SS. xx., p. 419. See 
F. Hardegen, “Jmperialpolitik Konig Heinrichs II. von England” ( Heid- 
elberg, 1905). 

39 G. B. Adams, Political History of England, 1066-1216, p. 306. 

40 But see ibid., p. 268, for a remarkable instance where apparently 
“the feudal spirit of Henry could not reconcile itself to a direct attack 
on the person of his suzerain,” 


Introduction XXVI11 


a more relentless logician than John might well have shrunk 
from the consequences of clean-cut analysis. 

There is no reason, however, to suppose that the omission was 
deliberate. After many centuries men were just beginning to 
make an attempt to think with legal accuracy. If they were 
commencing to grip once more the meaning of the idea of or- 
ganic political union which had never completely vanished from 
abstract thought, it is too much to expect that they should at 
once have faced some of the deepest difficulties in which it in- 
volved them. ‘They were saved from these difficulties for the 
time being by two prevalent and deeply-grounded elements in 
their political thinking. The first of these was the persistence 
from their barbarian past and from their saturation in scriptural 
tradition of what may be called the patriarchal ideal, which ad- 
mitted no distinction between the state and what we now desig- 
nate as “society” on the one hand, or between the state and the 
family on the other.*?. The result was that just as to-day we are 
not especially disturbed over the existence of incoherent and 
even conflicting organizations within “society,” so the thought 
of the twelfth century does not seem to have been for the mo- 
ment interested in the existence of competing and conflicting 
governmental organizations. It took them largely for granted. 
Meanwhile the same attitude was promoted by the dominant 
mediaeval conception of law. 


Il. THe. Law 


It is the idea of law which in the Policraticus as throughout 
the political thought of the middle ages really dictates the ap- 


41 See below, p. lili, Much of what is said by Professor Pott (Chi- 
nese Political Philosophy, pp. 65 ff.) concerning the Chinese attitude 
toward government applies to the Middle Ages. The difference is that 
the Middle Ages were continually working out of this attitude under the 
influence of actual institutional progress and of the progressive devel- 
opment of ideas inherited from classical antiquity. 


XXVIil Introduction 


proach to all the other problems of government, and affords the 
clew to the solution which is found for them. Indeed, one of 
the principal reasons for the representative significance of the 
Policraticus as a sample of mediaeval political thought is pre- 
cisely the fulness and clarity with which it discloses the typical 
mediaeval conception of the relation between law and govern- 
ment. 

It has become a historical commonplace that mediaeval thought 
was dominated by the conception of a body of law existing 
independently of the authority of any government and to which 
_ all positive law must conform and to which governments no less 
than individuals owed obedience.*? Rulers were thought of as 
‘bound by a “higher law,” which, in the vivid phrase of Mr. 
Justice Holmes, was a “brooding omnipresence in the sky,” 4 
and which accordingly made it possible to apply to their acts 
the criterion of legality or illegality. In the words of the Poli- 
craticus, “between a tyrant and the true prince there is this single 
or chief difference, that the latter obeys the law and rules the 
people by its dictates.” #* “A tyrant is one who oppresses the 
people by rulership based upon force while he who rules in ac- 
cordance with the laws is a prince.” *® “There are certain 
precepts of the law which have a perpetual necessity, having the 
force of law among all nations. . . . And not only do I with- 
draw from the hands of rulers the power of dispensing with the 
law, but in my opinion those laws which carry a perpetual in- 
junction are not subject at all to their pleasure.” 4 

This conception of a “higher law” accounts not merely for the 
characteristic trend of mediaeval political theory, both in its 


42 “Medieval doctrine while it was truly medieval never surrendered 
the thought that Law ... does not depend upon the State for its ex- 
istence. To base the State upon some ground of Law .. . the medieval 
publicist felt himself absolutely bound,’ Gierke, “Political Theories of 
the Middle Age,” tr. Maitland, p. 74. 

48 Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen, 244 U. S. Rep. (Sup. C’t.) 205 at 222, 

44 Bk. iv. c. 1, infra. 45 Bk viii, c. 17, infra. 46 Bk. iv., c. 7, infra. 


Introduction XX1X 


omissions and in the points which it selected for emphasis, but 
it also explains many aspects of mediaeval political organization 
and development which from the modern point of view are most 
difficult to understand. 

For one thing, it rationalizes the coexistence side by side for 
so many centuries of a number of competing types of political 
organization, like the Church, the Empire, the national kingdoms 
and the practically independent feudal principalities, which must 
otherwise appear as a mere chaos of anarchy. In mediaeval 
theory their coexistence was not anarchic because all were con- 
ceived as alike agencies of, and existing under, the “higher 
law,” which was supposed to allot to them their respective func- 
tions, and to regulate their relations. The conception is quite 
analogous to that of eighteenth-century international law which 
was thought of as a body of rules obligatory upon sovereign and 
independent states, although emanating from no human legisla- 
ture and enforceable in no independent international court. So 
the higher law of the middle ages was enforceable only by the 
several powers which were conceived as being under its au- 
thority. 

Just as such a conception permits the existence side by side of 
a number of independent systems of authority without any at- 
tempt to bring them into more organic connection than is sup- 
plied by the abstract “higher law” itself, so within each system 
it tends to postpone the perception of any need for organizing 
an effective machinery of government as we understand such 
organization. For, unlike international law, the “higher law” 
of the middle ages was thought of as binding directly upon in- 
dividuals. Positive law must be simply a reproduction of it and 
therefore it supplied all the organization and regulation needful 
to bring human relations into order, including the relations be- 
tween governmental officials.*7 It was at once international, 


47Cf{. St. Bernard’s view that the functions of ecclesiastical officials, 
lower as well as higher, were derived from and prescribed by the 


XXX Introduction 


constitutional, and private law. All that was necessary for 
each individual, whether official or private person, was to learn 
and perform his duties under that law. “What is the official 
duty of a publican?” asks John of Salisbury: ‘This is his 
duty, to exact and receive no more than is appointed.” 4* The 
directive and discretionary element in government is thus com- 
pletely eliminated and attention is diverted from the problem 
of how best to organize and allocate governmental functions 
for the attainment of political ends to a more or less barren in- 
sistence upon the necessity of the strict personal performance of 
pre-established legal duties under the organization of society 
at the time existing. 

The conception of a “higher law” had two other consequences 
which tended to retard the organization of effective government. 
On the one hand it opened the door wide to individual resistance 
to governmental power. If government as well as the individual 
was under a higher law it followed that governmental acts 
against the individual might well be illegal. In such a case it 
would be obviously unfair to conclude the individual by the il- 
legal decision of the government in its own favor, and since 
there was no other agency to judge between them, they were in 
the same position toward one another as independent states un- 
der modern international law. In such a case the individual 
had therefore a legal right of judging for himself and insisting 
upon his own rights and duties under the law as against the 
government. Even the soldier, according to John of Salisbury, 
must resist the commands of his superior officer in cases where 
these transcend the “higher law.” #° The result of this con- 
ception was at once to promote the natural mediaeval proclivity 
toward private war which expressed itself in the practical work- 
higher law and therefore could not be altered by the supreme authority 
of the Pope. The Pope could not lawfully “place the members in the 
body of Christ otherwise than He Himself arranged them.” “De Con- 


sideratione,” iii, 4, § 17, tr. Lewis, p. 85. 
68: Dki Vil’ Grd snr a 49 Bk. vi., c. 12, infra. 


Introduction XXX1 


ings of feudalism °° and on the other hand to give to such war 
that character of a struggle for legal rights which Stubbs has 
noted as one of the most characteristic features of mediaeval 
history.°4 

In the second place the mediaeval tendency to remit all ques- 
tions to the decision of a “higher law” had a consequence which 
in exactly the opposite way from the tendency just noted worked 
toward the same end of retarding effective political organiza- 
tion. If on the one hand it promoted the resort to private re- 
sistance, on the other it produced a tendency toward political 
“quietism.” This followed from the mediaeval identification 
of the “higher law” with the law of God. On this view, if 
government acted illegally it disobeyed God and God might very 
well be trusted to punish violations of His own law. If He 
did not do so, it must be because He had some hidden purpose 
of His own to further, perchance the punishment of an un- 
faithful people, by permitting them to be oppressed by the il- 
legal acts of an unjust king. Under such circumstances men 
would be impiously presumptuous if they undertook to thwart 
God’s purpose by taking their relief into their own hands and 
attempting to throw off the tyranny to which God wished them 
to be subjected for their sins. This view is very strong in John 
of Salisbury.” “If Kings hear and keep the word of God, they 
will fill out their days in prosperity and their years in glory: 
but if they hearken not, they shall pass by the sword or be con- 
sumed by their folly.” °* With God thus in continual attendance 
to enforce obedience to His law, subjects who act directly to rid 


50 Luchaire, “Manuel des Institutions Francaises,’ pp. 213-230. 

51“Seventeen Lectures on the Study of Medieval and Modern His- 
tory,’ pp. 208-223. 

52 “He that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God,” Rom. 
xiii, 2, quoted Bk iv, c. 1, Bk. vu, c. 21, infra. See also Bk. vi., c. 27, 
“Ego quidem non tantum bonis et modestis sed etiam discolis arbitror 
serviendum in omni humilitate et reverentia, fideliter tamen et in cultu 
potestatis Dei venerandum a quo est instituta.” See also Bk. viii., c. 18. 

53 Bk, v., c. 6, fra, 


XXXII Introduction 


themselves of tyranny are always in danger of interfering with 
the divine plan. This line of thought survived strongly into 
the post-Reformation period of monarchical absolutism and char- 
acterizes much of the French and Jacobite theory of the later 
seventeenth century. 

The conception of a “higher law” rests at bottom upon a 
failure or refusal to distinguish between the kind of rule of 
conduct to which the name of law seems best fitted, and the raw 
materials for such a rule,—in other words between the rule 
which is actually applied and enforced by a governing authority 
from which there is no legal procedure of appeal to any earthly 
superior, and the mere body of principles or ideas of right and 
wrong which that authority can select from and combine for the 
purpose of announcing or applying such a rule. More briefly, 
it results from a failure or refusal to see a difference between 
what had better be called “positive law” on the one hand and — 
“justice” on the other. The failure to draw this distinction has 
been laid by a distinguished authority at the door of classical 
philosophy.®** Whether or not the charge is entirely justified as 
to Plato and Aristotle, it is certainly true of the Stoic tradition 
through which classical philosophy was transmitted to the middle 
ages, and especially of Cicero.®® 

To conceive of an identity between justice and the rules of 
positive law, requires that justice itself must be conceived as 
more than the raw-material for rules but as itself a body of 
rules, or as capable of being immediately translated into a body 
of rules. This was essentially the Stoic doctrine. Their deri- 
vation of justice from nature, and their conception of nature as 
a rational order, brought into the foreground that trend of 
thought which identified the “laws” of justice with what we 
should to-day call the laws of physical science. They were defi- 
nite rules which could be “discovered” and formulated in the 


54 Voigt, “Jus Naturale,” vol. i., p. 208. 
55 See especially “De Legibus,” Bk, i., c. xvi. 


Introduction XX1il 


same sense as the “laws” of heat and motion. This conception 
had a close affinity, and therefore entered into very powerful 
combination, with the Christian conception of the “law of God.” 
The importance of the Christian element in the combination con- 
sisted in the fact that it was able to supply ready-made a body 
of such concrete and tangible rules, practically a code, in the 
shape of the Scriptures.°°* Here was a corpus of “higher law’’ 
which consisted of rules as definite as those emanating from the 
legislative power of prince or emperor. A “higher law” became 
possible as never before because the law-making authority was 
placed in Heaven while its specific enactments remained definite 
and visible in the sight of men on earth. 

It is interesting to note that John of Salisbury conceives the 
“higher law” to which princes are subject almost entirely in 
terms of scriptural commandments or prohibitions. He dis- 
cusses in detail in two places in the Policraticus the injunctions 
which are binding upon rulers. The first passage sets forth the 
provisions of Deuteronomy, xvii, 14-20. Almost the whole of 
the Fourth Book of the Policraticus is simply a commentary on 
this passage as constituting the “law” which princes must obey. 
The second set of scriptural injunctions cited by John as espe- 
cially binding on princes are drawn from Job, xxix, 7-25.5% 
But there is no doubt that he conceived the whole Bible as hav- 
ing a similar obligatory force. 

With the revival of the study of Justinian’s law-books in the 
eleventh century the doctrine of a “higher” law received another | 


55a See Ernst Troeltsch, “Die Sociallehren der Christlichen Kirchen,” 
in Gesammelte Schriften, i, 157 ff. 

56 Both these passages had already been cited in the same connection 
by Jonas of Orleans (c. 828 A.D.), “De Institutione Regia,’ c. 3, 4. 
(D’Achéry, Spicilegium, tom. I., pp. 324 ff.) The passage from Job is 
used as establishing the rule for princes by Hugh of Flavigny, M. G. H., 
SS., tom. vili, p. 436, and thence copied by Hugh of Fleury, “Tract. de 
Keg. Pot. et Sac. Dig., i., c. 6, Libelli de Lite, tom. ii, p. 473. The pas- 
sage from Deuteronomy is used for the same purpose in the fifteenth 
century by Fortescue, “De Laudibus Legum Angliae,” c. i. 


XXXIV Introduction 


increment of strength in a peculiar way. It seems to have been 
conceived that if human enactments to be valid must simply re- 
produce the provisions of a higher law, therefore the provisions 
of this higher law could be discovered from the human enact- 
ments which had come to be looked upon as valid. In other 
words, men treasured the Roman law because they regarded it 
as faithfully reproducing the divine law and therefore as af- 
fording a means of knowing the latter.°* This attitude per- 
vades the Policraticus. John of Salisbury regards the pro- 
visions of the Corpus Juris as but “publications” and “exposi- 
tions” of the divine law. Thus he says that Justinian and Leo 
“disclosed and proclaimed” the “sacred” laws and “took espe- 
cial pains to the end that the most sacred laws which are 
binding upon the lives of all should be known by all.” ** 
And elsewhere, referring to the silencing of Vacarius in 
England, he casually speaks of the Roman law as “the law” 
itself.”° 

The identification of the “higher law’”’ with the “law of God” 
as embodied in the scriptures, and the belief that its provisions 
were directly reproduced in existing texts of the Roman law, 
eliminated for thinkers of the twelfth century one of the cardinal 
difficulties which beset the doctrine of a “higher law” when it ap- 
pears in the form of the supremacy of a “law of nature, ’—the 


57 Cf. Maitland, “Bracton’s Note Book,’ vol. 1., p. 9. 

58 Bk. iv., c. 6, infra. 

59 Bk, viii, c. 22, infra; so also Bk. vi., c. 26. To “civil law,” as dis- 
tinguished from “the law,” John exhibits a decided and natural aver- 
sion. Thus, in one place (Bk. vii., c. 20, infra), he quotes with ap- 
proval a comparison of “the civil laws” to a spider’s web, “which catches 
flies and gnats, but lets birds and larger insects through; in the same 
manner the civil laws restrain the wills of people of the humbler sort, 
but give way at once to the more powerful.” This hostility to “civil 
law” in general John concentrates upon custom in particular: “If you 
urge reason or authority, they will cast in your teeth ‘custom,’ which 
they abuse, or which they themselves have made” (Bk. vii., c. 19, infra). 
This attitude suggests the similar stand later made famous by John’s 
friend, Thomas Becket. See Ramsay, “The Angevin Empire,” p. 43; 
G. B. Adams, Political History of England, 1066-1216, p, 281, 


Introduction XXXV 


difficulty, namely, of identifying any specific rules or precepts 
as belonging to this law.°’ When a “higher law” must be 
spelled out from a vague body of principles of “natural justice” 
it is hard to conceal the fact that the agency which is charged 
with the process of selecting and translating these into enforce- 
able rules has a discretionary power so wide as to amount prac- 
tically to creative law-making. This was the difficulty which be- 
came more and more apparent to mediaeval thought from the 
thirteenth century onward. But it had not yet arisen for John 
of Salisbury. While he repeats the cliché that “nature is the 
best guide of life,’’ and seems to take it for granted that the 
will of God and the precepts of rational nature are the same, his 
attention is directed wholly to the first member of the equa- 
tion, and he is troubled by no difficulty of identifying the pre- 
cepts of rational nature,—the “higher law” is itself given in the 
form of clean-cut scripture texts. 

But even where the texts of a “higher law” are thus not to 
seek, but are concretely given, there remain the seeds of ultimate 
confusion in what the layman is apt to regard as the compar- 
atively insignificant matter of the need for interpretation.®*! For 
a text needs to be interpreted; and interpretation is a mighty 
lever in the hands of whoever applies it. The person who 
has authority to say what a text means is in a position to 
say when it shall, and when it shall not, apply; and the estab- 
lished doctrine of the Roman jurists that a law was to be ex- 
tended to all cases where the same reason applied and on the 
other hand was not to be enforced in cases falling outside its 


60 In one passage, Bk. iv, c. 7, where John is confronted by the neces- 
sity of specifying a precept of the “immutable law,” he instances the 
so-called “golden rule.” This is substantially the answer given by 
George Buchanan (c. 1570) as to the content of the “law of nature” 
(De Jure Regni apud Scotos, c. xi). 

61In the sixteenth century Buchanan ascribed the growth of the 
whole Papal power to the fact that the Popes had made good their 
claim to the right to interpret the law. Op. cit., cc. xxx-xxxii. 


XXXVI Introduction 


“spirit” ©? could be used to convert the power of interpretation 
into a practical power of legislation on the one hand and of dis- 
pensing with the law on the other. More and more during the 
twelfth century this power of interpretation came to be brought 
into play until Innocent III could claim for the popes that 
“secundum plentitudinem potestatis de jure possumus supra jus 
dispensare.”’ °° 

The difficulties inherent in the problem of interpreting the 
higher law were already present to the mind of John of Salis- 
bury, and to it is devoted some of the most subtle thinking in 
the Policraticus, even if the final result seems inconclusive and 
obscure. Previous thinkers had done their best to close their 
eyes to the difficulty. Cicero in a burst of Stoic grandeur had 
announced categorically that the higher law needed no inter- 
pretation—that it was one and the same in the minds of all ra- 
tional beings.** Augustine says that there can be no two opin- 
ions about what the divine law commands or forbids,—that there 
can be no human judgments concerning it, and therefore no 
interpretation.®*® On the other hand, the practical inevitability 
of interpretation was bound to be present to the minds of lawyers 
and was expressly recognized in Gratian’s Decretum.® 

John of Salisbury seems to approach the problem of inter- 
pretation in different passages from two distinct points of view, 
the juristic and the metaphysical. From the juristic stand- 
point he recognizes that justice—aequitas—is in the final 

62 See Digest I., iii., 12-25. 

63 Innocent III., Decretal Greg., ix., Lib. iii. Tit. viii., de concess. 
praebend., c. proposuit, ed. Friedberg, ii. p. 488. 

64“De Republica,’ iii, 22, preserved in Lactantius, Inst., vi., 8. 

65 “De Vera Religione,’ c. 31 (Migne, P. L., tom. 34, col. 147). 

66 Decrett Secunda Pars, causa xxv., Quest. I, Pars ii., c. 2, Gratianus: 
“Sacri canones ita aliquid constituunt ut suae interpretationis auctorita- 
tem sanctae Romanae ecclesiae reservent, ipsi namque soli canones val- 


eant interpretari qui jus condendi eos habent.” (ed. Friedberg, i., p. 
1011). | 


Introduction XXXVI1I1 


analysis not a body of rules, but a vaguer entity which is focused 
into rules for purposes of application. This he expresses by 
saying that “‘the law” is itself the interpreter of equity.*7 But 
he tacitly recognizes that the rule may in certain cases not ade- 
quately accomplish, or may even defeat, the justice which it is 
its place to further. In such a case there is needed an “inter- 
preter” between law and justice. He then quotes the passage of 
Justinian’s Code which states that the power of “interpreting 
between law and equity belongs solely to the prince as the au- 
thor of the law,” and goes on to argue from this that the law 
of which God is the author can be interpreted by no one save 
God Himself.°* From the juristic standpoint John thus gives no 
clear answer to the question of where the power is located to in- 
terpret the divine laws. Some light, however, is shed on this 
question from the metaphysical standpoint in a passage where 
John is speaking of the wisdom of counsellors. “They fall into 
error,’ he says, “who think that everything is a matter for the ar- 
bitrary will and discretion of those who make decisions in- 
stead of being rather a matter of truth and science. But there is, 
as the ancient philosophers knew, a supreme guiding principle of 
things divine and human, namely Wisdom, and. a science of 
things to be done and left undone.” This wisdom is the result 
of the fear and love of God, and the man who has it will do the 
things that he ought to do and omit to do the things that he 
ought not to do. In others words, apparently, the “wise man” 
will have, so far as is humanly possible, the capacity to know 
and interpret the law of God. Therefore the prince should 
surround himself with wise counsellors and learned priests.7° 
John’s view thus seems to be that the prince has no peculiar 
prerogative to interpret the “higher law,” but that this right, 


67 Bk, iv., c.. 2, infra. : 

68 Bk. iii, c. 26. This passage does not fall within the translation 
below. 

69 Bk. v, c. 9, infra. 70 Bk. iv., c. 6, infra. 


XXXVill Introduction 


so far as it can be humanly exercised, belongs to every in- 
dividual who is qualified therefor by the gift of Divine wisdom. 

What is substantially the same problem as that of interpreta- 
tion is raised when John comes to discuss directly the prince’s 
right to “dispense” with “the law.’’ “Every censure imposed by 
law,” he says, “is vain if it does not bear the stamp of the divine 
law. . . . Through the prince no jot or tittle of the law shall fall 
to earth because he shall make no exception in favor of his own 
hands or the hands of his subjects.” However, John makes a 
concession to practical necessity and anticipates the thought of the 
later middle ages by distinguishing between two different kinds 
of divine precepts. “There are certain precepts of the law 
which have a perpetual necessity, having the force of law 
among all nations and which absolutely cannot be broken with 
impunity. . . .7* Not only do I withdraw from the hands of 
rulers the power of dispensing with the law, but in my opinion 
those laws which carry a perpetual injunction or prohibition are 
not subject at all to their pleasure. In the case of those rules 
which are flexible, I admit a power of dispensing with verbal 
strictness, but only in such fashion that the purpose of the law 
shall be preserved in its integrity by a compensating concession 
made to propriety or public utility.”’7* John nowhere gives 
examples of the laws which he regards as “flexible,” but a dis- 
tinction which he draws in another connection is pertinent to the 
point. Speaking of the duty of soldiers to obey their com- 
manders, he says that they must refuse obedience to commands 
which violate the necessary precepts of God’s law. But there 
are other things “which philosophers count as ‘indifferent,’ ” 
as for instance whether or not to enter upon a campaign, or 


71 Bk. iv., c. 6, mfra. 

72 Bk. iv, c. 7, fra. For a particularly bitter attack by John on the 
“dispensing power,” where he recognizes that it practically amounts to 
converting will into law, or, in other words, to law-making sovereignty, 
see Bk. vii., c. 17, infra. 


Introduction XXX1X 


whether or not to conduct a foray or sortie; and these are left 
to the discretion of the commander.** The distinction between 
precepts as to things necessary and things indifferent is cer- 
tainly not quite the same as that between flexible and inflexible 
precepts, but it points in the same direction. The effect of 
John’s theory is to narrow almost to the vanishing point the 
power of the prince qua prince to dispense with the precepts of 
the divine texts just as it is to extend the legal power of inter- 
preting these to all persons endowed with Divine Wisdom. 
An extreme illustration of this reluctance to allow the prince 
to interpret the law is his doctrine that where the law is doubt- 
ful the prince should dismiss a case without decision.”4 

One basic difficulty involved in the doctrine that the prince 
was subject to the higher law was solved by John in a way 
which anticipates the more famous later solution by Aquinas. 
This is the difficulty that there is no earthly power having 
jurisdiction to enforce the law against him—the same difficulty 
which presents itself in connection with the obligatory character 
of modern international law upon sovereign states. Aquinas 
met the difficulty by distinguishing between the vis directiva and 
the ws coactiva of law, and insisting that while the prince was 
not subject to the compulsive power he was subject to the direc- 
tive power.* John of Salisbury had already expressed sub- 
stantially the same distinction in a different form. He says that 
while the prince is not bound by the law in the sense that he will 
be subjected by any earthly authority to penalties for breaking 
it, he is subject to it in the sense that it is his duty to obey it 
without the threat of penalties;7* he remains a prince only 
while his will is conformable to the law; and when he departs 
from its injunctions he becomes a tyrant.’ 


78 Bk. vi., ¢. 12, infra. 74 Bk. v., c. 12, infra. 
78 Summa Thceol., I*., 2**., q. xcvi., art Vv. a0 4 
16 Bk, iv., c. 2, infra, 77 Bk., viii., c. 17, infra. 


xl Introduction 


Ill. Tue PRINCE AND HIS GOVERNMENT 


There is no comparison of the relative merits of different 
forms of government in the Policraticus. The conventional dis- 
cussion of the respective claims’ of monarchy, aristocracy, and 
democracy, is an academic imitation of classical political theory 
which comes into mediaeval thought only with the recovery of 
Aristotle’s “Politics” in the following century. Monarchy is 
the only form of government in which John is interested as a 
working reality, although he seems conscious that there may be 
other forms.*® 

There is one kind of government, however, which John in 
several passages sets up as an ideal in contrast to monarchy, to 
illustrate the short-comings of the latter. This is rule by judges, 
as it existed among the people of Israel in the time of Samuel 
and before the establishment of the Kingdom. John’s preference 
for such a government is closely connected with, and serves 
to emphasize again, his conception of the supremacy of law. A 
king is not really needed by a people who follow the law and 
submit to its dictates—all that they require is a judge to ad- 
minister it among them as Samuel did. The beginning of king- 
ship marks a falling away from the purity of obedience to the - 
law, and was a token of God’s anger. “The earliest patriarchs,” 
says John, “followed nature, the best guide of life. They were 
succeeded by leaders, beginning with Moses, who followed the 
law, and judges who ruled the people by the authority of the 
law; and we read that the latter were priests. At last, in the 
anger of God, they were given kings, some good, many bad. 
For Samuel had grown old, and when his sons did not walk in 
his ways, but followed after avarice and uncleanness, the people, 
who perchance deserved that such priests should be in author- 
ity over them, forced God, whom they had despised, to give them 


78 Bk, v., c. I, mfra. 


Introduction xl 


a King.”"° “And yet a King was not truly needed, had not 
Israel after the likeness of the gentiles walked crookedly and 
showed themselves not content to have God for their King??? 
“And if iniquity and injustice, banishing charity, had not 
brought about tyranny .. . perhaps there would be no king- 
doms at all, since it is clear from the ancient historians that in 
the beginning these were founded by iniquity as encroachments 
against God or were extorted from Him.” ** 

These passages form an interesting link between important 
earlier and later theories. They reach back to the patristic 
doctrine that in the state of innocence there was no coercive 
government, and that it was sin which caused God to set men 
over one another, subjecting some to the authority of others. 
In the language of St. Augustine, the primitive just men were 
rather shepherds of their flocks than kings of men.*? On the 
other hand the same passages reach forward to the important 
distinction taken by the author of the second book of the De 
Regimine Principum between “political” and “regal” rule. 
Political rule was that of the judges of Israel. This was suited 
to man in the uncontaminated state of human nature which was 
called the state of innocence; but in the state of sin, regal rule 
is more beneficial. “Therefore the rod of discipline, which all 
men fear, and the rigor of justice, are necessary in the govern- 
ance of the world because thereby the people and the rude un- 
tutored multitude are the better ruled.” 8? Whether St. Thomas 
wrote this passage or not, the distinction which it drew came to 


79 Bk., viii. c. 18, infra. 80 Bk. iv., c. iii, infra. 

8U Bk. viii., c. 17., infra. 

82 De Civ. Det, xix., 15; Irenaeus, adv. Haer., v. 24: Carlyle, “His- 
tory of Mediaeval Political Theory,” vol. i, pp. 126-129. St. Isidore 
held that temporal rulership would not be necessary if men would heed 
the preaching of God’s law and did not require to be coerced. Lib, 
Sent., I1I., 51, quoted in Jonas of Orleans, De Inst. Reg., c. 3; in Hugh 
of Fleury, Tract. de Reg. Pot., M. G. H., Libelli de Lite, ii., p. 460. 

83 Thomas Aquinas, De Reg. Prin., Hi., “0: 


xiii Introduction 


be identified with a similar distinction which he based on Aris- 
totle’s Politics,8* and formed the groundwork of Fortescue’s 
famous distinction between the English and French mon- 
archies.*° 

John of Salisbury, when contrasting monarchy with govern- 
ment by judges, represents the former as essentially despotic in 
character. ‘“‘And so Saul was elected with the aforesaid right 
of a King, namely that he might take their sons and make them 
his charioteers, and take their daughters to bake his bread and 
cook his food, and take their fields and lands to distribute at his 
pleasure among his servants, and in short oppress the whole 
people beneath the yoke of slavery.” *° This conception of king- 
ship ** is out of line with the main trend of John’s views on 
monarchy. It represents a direction of thought which, however 
congenial with his attitude toward law, is not the direction which 
he chose in the main to follow. On the other hand the theory 
of kingship which he developed in detail embraces at least two 
distinct elements which it is difficult to harmonize. 

John insists in numerous passages that the king is the “rep- 
resentative” of the commonwealth.** He is “the minister of the 
common interest ...and bears the public person.” *° He 


84 Com. in Aristot. Pol., III., lect. 13, lect. 15. Grabmann holds that 
the commentary is the work of St. Thomas only as far as III., lect. 6, 
and that the later parts are by Petrus of Alvernia (M. Grabmann, 
“Die echten Schriften des hl. Thomas,’ Munster, 1920, p. 206). Grab- 
mann also holds that the “De Regimine” is genuine only as far as the 
middle of ii, 4. Jbid., p. 151. 

85 “This Divers is wel taught ii Seynt Pewee in hys boke wich 
he wrote, Ad Regem Cipri de Regimine Principum.” Fortescue, “Gov- 
ernance of England,” ch. 1. 

86 Bk. viii.,c. 18, infra. 

87 The identification of kingship and tyranny in connection with the 
theory of the origin of government, and the resulting inconsistency be- 
tween this view and the attempt made elsewhere to draw a clear dis- 
tinction between a king and a tyrant, reproduces oe bi the continua- 
tion of St. Thomas’s “De Regimine Principum, ’—cf. ii, 9, and iii, 9. 

BS Ta Vig Con Srp cah] Ps 5s BKvee. nto 


Introduction xlill 


must regard himself as only the servant of the people.°® He is 
an “officer,” and his acts are not his own, but those of the “uni- 
versitas” or corporate community in whose place he stands.®! 
This conception of kingship as representative or ministerial is 
in line with a current of opinion which was emphasized in 
twelfth century thought by the revived study of the Corpus 
Juris. A famous text based the authority of the emperor on a 
lex regia whereby the Roman people had transferred their power 
to him.** Therefore the Glossators explained the position of the 
emperor as that of a “representative” or “vicar” of the people. 
It happens that the earliest passages in the writings of the jurists 
which develop this view are probably later than the Policraticus 
or approximately contemporaneous with it;°* but it was a view 
which was to become the orthodox legal doctrine of the next 
century,”* and for that reason its early statement by John of 
Salisbury is all the more remarkable and significant. 

It does not, however, represent John’s dominant conception 
of the position of the monarch. He regards him for the most 
part not as the representative of the people, but as the “image 
of God on earth.” *° His ministry is conferred on him not by 

90 Bk. iv., c. 1., infra. 91 Bk. v., c. 4, infra. 

i inenis ae bs inst, 1, 2, 6. 

Com. in Dig. Tit. “De Diversis Reg. Juris,” att. to Bulgarus, reg. 
176, ed. F. G. C. Beckhaus, Bonn, 1856, p. 112; Placentinus Summa In- 
stitutionum, 1., 2. Tourtoulon places the work of Placentinus after 
1166, Vie de Placentin, pp. 120-121. It is impossible to date the Com- 
mentary accurately. If it was the work of Bulgarus as Savigny sup- 
poses (“Geschichte des rémischen Rechts im Mittelalter,’ Bd. iv., pp. 
04 ff.), it might have been written before 1156 and probably before 1159 
(ibid., pp. 86-87). 

94 Aquinas, Summa Theol., 122%¢, q. go, art. 3; Baldus, Com. on Code 
Venice, 1586), Bk. 10, Rubr. 1, nr. 12, 13, 18; other citations in Mait- 
land’s Gierke, notes 210-217 incl. 

°° Cf. Hugh of Fleury, Tract. de Reg. Pot., i, 3: “rex in regni sui 
corpore patris omnipotentis optinere videtur imaginem”; Suger, Vita 
Ludovici, Oeuvres, ed. Lecoy de la Marche, p. 72: “partum Dei cujus ad 


vivificandum portat rex imaginem.” See Flach, “Les Origines de 
VAncienne France,” t. iii, pp. 236 ff. 


xliv Introduction 


the people but by God. “All power is from the Lord God; the 
power which the prince has is therefore from God, for the power 
of God is never lost nor severed from him, but He merely 
exercises it through a subordinate hand.” °° The power of the 
prince is “instituted by God for the punishment of evil-doers 
and for the reward of good men.” ®* ‘The prince “is placed at 
the apex of the commonwealth by the divine governance.” 
Kingship is an honor bestowed by God,*® and a criminal at- 
tempt: against the prince is an attempt against God himself. 
He is subject only to God and to the priesthood, who represent 
God upon earth; '°t and he will be judged by God and held to 
account for his ministry.” 7° 

The later middle ages were troubled by the problem of 
reconciling the doctrine that on the one hand the ruler was the 
agent or representative of the people, and on the other hand that 
he held his power from God.1°* John does not seem to have 
felt the difficulty, perhaps because he had a solution for it. 
“The commonwealth,” he says, “stands in the same relation 
to the prince as a ward to a guardian.” *°* In other words, the 
prince is responsible for the commonwealth, but not to it; he 
represents it legally, but his responsibility runs to the legal au- 
thority to which he owes his appointment, namely to God. The 
same idea is differently expressed in another passage: “The 
prince is the Lord’s servant, but he performs his service by 
faithfully serving his fellow-servants, namely his subjects.” *°° 

This solution evades the necessity of taking one side or the 
other upon an issue which was of immediate practical con- 


96 Bk, iv., c. 1., infra. 97 Tbhid. 98 Bk. v., 6., infra. 

99 Bk. vi., c. 26., mfra, 199 Bk. vi., c. 25. infra. 191 Bk, v., c. 2., infra. 

102 Bk. iv, C. 103) BES iv. 6.2128 Bk. Vi; c. 1 4nfra, 

103 For tees to effect a reconesiateal see Maitland’s Gierke, notes 
140 and 14I. 

104 Bk. y., c. 7., infra. For the discharge of this trust, the king is 
responsible to his own judge in Heaven. Bk. vy, c. 11; Bk. vi. c. 1, wfra. 

105 BRO IV, ¢C,-7y tyra. 


i te ee 


Introduction xlv 


sequence in the twelfth century,—the issue, namely, between 
elective and hereditary monarchy. In the Carolingian period 
the conventional formulae of public acts described the Frankish 
kings as “elected by the whole people.” 1% During the feudal 
era the baronage had succeeded for a time in France! and 
permanently in Germany in making the election more than a 
mere formality.°* In England, at least the form of election 
seems to have prevailed down to the time of Edward the First.1% 
At the very era when the Policraticus was being written the 
French and English monarchs were finally succeeding in mak- 
ing the crown hereditary in their families through the practice 
of securing the election and coronation of the heir during the 
life-time of his predecessor.1*° “Philip Augustus was the first 
of his race who felt himself strong enough to dispense with the 
designation and coronation of his son during his own life-time. 
It had taken two centuries for the dynasty of Hugh Capet to at- 
tain this result.” "** During the whole period when the heredi- 
tary and elective principles were contending with one another, 
current theory sought to evade difficulties by accepting both at 
the same time and refusing to see any inconsistency between 
them. The typical formulae run to the effect that the king is 
“Rex jure hereditario, . . . et mediante tam cleri quam populi 
unanimi consensu et favore; '!” or, as Ivo of Chartres explained, 


106 Flach, Les Origines de l’Ancienne France, t. iii., pp. 238, ff. 

107 See Luchaire, Institutions Monarchiques, t. i, pp. 61-86. 

108 Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, 7 ed., pp. 226 ff. 

109 Stubbs, Constitutional Hist., ii., p. 107. 

110 Luchaire, op. cit., t. i, p. 61, p. 69. Henry II of England had 
his eldest son, Henry, crowned twice: first in 1170 (G. B. -Adams, 
Political History of England, 1066-1216, p. 293), and again with his 
wife in 1172 (ibid., p. 303). 

111 | uchaire, op. cit., p. 87. 

112 Rymer, Foedera, ed. Clarke and Holbrooke, vol. i., pt. 1, p. 75. 
Cf. the account of the succession of Richard I given by Ralph de 
Diceto: “Comes itaque Pictavorum Ricardus haereditario jure pro- 
movendus in regem post tam cleri quam populi solempnem et debitam 


xvi Introduction 


“Ture in regem est consecratus cui jure hereditario regnum com- 
petebat et quem communis consensus episcoporum et procerum 
jampridem eligerat.” *** 

In fact, this mixed theory of election and heredity was not 
so much the result of a mere failure to distinguish between the 
two as it was the outcome of a carefully devised argument which 
formed an important element in that ecclesiastical tradition of 
political thought which John of Salisbury represents. The full 
statement of this theory is perhaps the point at which the 
Policraticus sheds the most direct light on the institutional his- 
tory of its era. 

John starts from the position that “the kingly power is not 
born of flesh and blood, since in the bestowal thereof regard for 
ancestry ought not to prevail over merits and virtues.” 114 
Again he says that, while ordinarily public offices descend to the 
heirs of the holder, governance of the people does not so descend 
as a matter of right, but is bestowed upon one who has in him 
the spirit of God, and has a knowledge of the law.” The 
theory of absolute hereditary right is thus rejected. On the 
other hand, John is equally far from accepting an unrestricted 
freedom of election on the part of the commonwealth. In 
describing the “ordination” of a Hebrew king, and implying that 
it is a model to be followed in instituting rulers, he says, “Here 
is plainly no acclamation by the people, any more than a title 
founded upon ties of blood”; but the prince should be chosen 
in the presence of the people, “so that afterwards no man may 


electionem involutus est triplici sacramento,” etc. Imagines Historiarum, 
anno 1189, Opera Historica, Rolls Series, no. 68, vol. II., p. 68. 

113 “Receuil des Historiens de France,” tom. xv., p. 144. For the 
combination of hereditary and elective theory in the Empire, see Waitz, 
Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, (ed. 1896), vi, 163 ff. Cf. the ac- 
count of the accession of Otto I. in the Annales Quedlinburgenses, M., 
G. H. SS, iii, 54: “Henricus rex obiit ... cujus filius Otto... jure 
haereditario paternis eligitur succedere regnis.” 

114 Bk, iv., c. 3, fra. 115 Bk. v., c. 6, infra. 


= ------. 


Introduction xlvil 


have ground for retraction, and no least scruple of uncertainty 
may remain to cloud his title.’12* John is particularly op- 
posed to the efforts of kings to ensure the succession of their 
heirs. “Why is it,” he asks, “that the poor are crushed beneath 
wrongs and outrages, made lean with exactions, despoiled by 
manifold and often repeated rapine, why are the peoples bidden 
to clash together in arms and shake the world, to no end but that 
princes may be succeeded by their natural heirs?” 17 “To-day 
all are actuated by the single motive of making their children, 
no matter what the character of the latter may be, resplendent 
with riches and honors rather than with virtues. They even 
neglect and forget that the burden and responsibility of the 
common weal rest upon them.” !!8 

If thus neither election nor hereditary right affords a suf- 
ficient basis for the royal title, whence is it derived? John de- 
rives it directly from God, through election or inheritance or 
such other means as God in the given instance chooses to em- 
ploy. “The prince is placed by the divine governance at the 
apex of the commonwealth, sometimes through the secret min- 
istry of God’s providence, sometimes by the decision of His 
priests, and again it is the votes of the whole people which con- 
cur to place the ruler in authority.” 11° Having been so chosen, 
if he then proceeds to discharge his office faithfully and in ac- 
cordance with divine law, a presumptive right arises in his chil- 
dren to succeed him. “The father is succeeded by the son if 
the latter imitates the father’s justice. Parents will be suc- 
ceeded by their children if these shall have faithfully followed 
them in obeying the commandments of the Lord. . . . Since 
there is nought which men more desire than to have their sons 
succeed in their possessions, therefore this promise is given to 
princes as the greatest incentive to the practice of justice. . . . 
It is the privilege of a prince to have his sons succeed him with- 


116 Bk, v., c. 6, infra. 117 Bk, v., c. 7, infra. 
118 Bk, iv., c. II, infra. 119 Bk, v., c, 6, infra, 


xIvili Introduction 


out any question and in continuance of the original grant from 
God unless their princely power is subverted as a result of in- 
iquity.” 12° “It is not right to pass over in favor of new men 
the blood of princes, who are entitled by the divine promise and 
the right of family to be succeeded by their own children, pro- 
vided they have walked in the judgments of the Lord,” ™ 
What the theory amounts to, then, is this: that heredity estab- 
lishes a presumptive or defeasible title which if abused either 
by the incumbent, his predecessor, or the claimant to the suc- 
cession, is capable of being divested by human action pursued in 
execution of the judgment of God and by virtue of authority 
derived from Him. This was substantially the form in which 
a compromise between the hereditary and elective principles was 
maintained by church theory during the two centuries from 
the election of Hugh Capet to the end of the twelfth century. 
On the former occasion it was expressed by Adalbero of 
Rheims: “We are not ignorant that Charles of Lorraine has 
partisans who pretend that the throne belongs to him by right 
of birth. But if the question is stated in this way we shall 
reply that royal power is not acquired by hereditary right, and 
that he alone should be elevated to it who is designated not 
merely by his birth and family but also by the wisdom of his 
spirit and who finds his natural support in his faithfulness to re- 
ligion, his chief strength in his greatness of soul.” *** What 
is substantially the same view is set forth in the much-disputed 
speech attributed to Archbishop Hubert of Canterbury on the oc- 
casion of' the “election” of King John of England. “Let your 
discretion know,” the Archbishop is made to say, “that no one - 
has a right to succeed another in the kingship unless after the 
invocation of the Holy Spirit he is chosen by the unanimous ap- 
proval of the universitas of the kingdom, having been previously 


120 Bk, iv., c. II, infra. 121 Bk, v., c. 6, infra. 
. 5 ’ 
122 Richer, Bk. iv., c. 11, ed. Waitz, pp. 132-3. 


Introduction xlix 


designated for the post because of his pre-eminence in good 
qualities, according to the example and likeness of Saul, whom 
God set over His people although he was not the son of a king 
nor even sprung from a royal stock; and of David likewise, the 
son of Semey, who succeeded him, the one because he was able 
and fit for the royal dignity, the other because of his holiness and 
humanity; thus showing that he who excels all in the kingdom 
in point of ability should be set over all in power and rulership. 
But if any of the family of the deceased king so excels others, 
his election must be consented to all the more readily and 
promptly.” 174 

Read in the light of contemporary doctrine as developed in 
the Policraticus, there is no need to see in Hubert’s speech the 
announcement of the principle of election in any modern sense, 
or to regard it as exceptional in the way that Stubbs seems to 
do.** It is merely the emergence of the conventional view 
upon an opportunity and from a source from which it might 
naturally be expected to emerge. We should make a serious 
mistake if we supposed that the elective element was conceived 
with anything like the sharpness of nineteenth, or the hereditary 
element with anything like the legitimist absolutism of 
eighteenth, century theory. Both were outlined with a hazy 


8 Matthew Paris, Chron. Maj., Rolls Series, no. 57, vol. li, Pp. 454, 5. 
The inconsistency between the two elements of the conventional theory, 
heredity and election, was already breaking apart in the investiture 
controversy at the end of the eleventh century. The imperialists were 
driven to advance a theory of indefeasible hereditary right: see Petrus 
Crassus, Defensio Henrici, M. G. F1., Libelli de Lite, i, 432 ff; Liber de 
unitate ecclesiae conservanda, ibid, ii, 173. On the other hand, for the 
papalists, Manegold of Lautenbach rested royal authority on delegation 
by the people: Liber ad Gebehardum, cc. xxx, xlvii, ibid., i, 308 ff. See 
A. Fliche, “Les Théories Germaniques de la Souveraineté,” in Revue 
Historique (May-June, 1917), CXXV; 1. 

124 Stubbs, Const’l Hist., vol. i., p. 454. Election was only a channel 
through which God manifested his will. See M. Prou, preface to 
Hincmar, “De Ordine Palatii,’ p. xxix, Bibl, de L’Bcole des Hautes 
Etudes, fasc. 58. 


l Introduction 


informality, which was no doubt all the more congenial to church 
writers because of the opportunity which was thus left to the 
Church to intervene in doubtful cases and declare upon the 
highest authority the will of God.* But John cautiously re- 
frains from saying that the power of decision always rests with 
the priesthood; it is true that they always have the power of 
deposition because they have the power of conferring royalty ; **° 
but it is only sometimes that God works through this power, and 
He frequently employs other agencies to elevate his chosen 
candidate to royal office.**’ ; 

The conception of the king’s title as derived from God goes 
hand in hand with the conception of his “office” as a religious 
one. “Every office existing under and concerned with the ex- 
ecution of the sacred laws is really a religious office.” **° A 
great part of the Policraticus is taken up with a discussion of 
the duties of the ruler conceived from this standpoint. ‘The 
discussion is illuminating as disclosing absolutely no distinction 
between what we should class as public and private duties.’ 
The king should be chaste and avoid avarice; ** he should be 
learned in letters ; 124 he should be humble; **? he should banish 
from his realm actors and mimes, buffoons and harlots; *** he 
should seek the welfare of others and not his own; *** he should 
wholly forget the affections of flesh and blood and do only that 


125 See the very interesting “opinion” handed down by Innocent III 
when he undertook to decide the case of the disputed election of Philip 
of Swabia and Otto of Brunswick to the Empire (1201): Huillard- 
Bréholles, “Historica diplomatica Friderici secundi,’” I. 70-76; also in 
Migne, P. L., tom. 216, 1025 ff. 

126 Bk, iv., c. 3, infra. 127 Bk. v., c. 6, infra. 128 Bk. iv., c. 3, infra. 

129 Augustine, still living in the classical tradition, had recognized 
such a distinction. Ad. Bon., Ep. 50., c. 5, § 19. This letter appears as 
no. 185 in Migne’s edition. See P. L., tom. 33, 801. 

180 Bk. iv., c. 5; ayra. 

131 Bk, iv., c. 6, infra. Hugh of Fleury would have the king learn 
to read, “ut acuatur cotidie ejus ingenium lectione divinorum librorum.” 
“Tract. de Reg. Pot.,” i. 6. 

132 Bk, iv., c. 7, infra. 138 Bk. iv. c. 4, infra, 184 Bk, iv., ¢. 8, infra, 


Introduction li 


which is demanded by the welfare and safety of his subjects; 
he should be both father and husband to them; +®> he should 
correct their errors with the proper remedies; 1** he should be 
affable of speech and generous in conferring benefits ; he should 
temper justice with mercy ; 17 he should punish the wrongs and 
injuries of all, and all crimes, with even-handed equity ; 15° he 
has duties to the very wise and the very foolish, to little children 
and to the aged; 1° his shield is a shield for the protection of 
the weak, and should ward off the darts of the wicked from the 
innocent ; 14° he must act on the counsel of wise men 374. he must 
protect the widow and the orphan; #2 he must curb the malice of 
officials and provide for them out of the public funds to the 
end that all occasion for extortion may be removed ; '** he must 
restrain the soldiery from outrage; 4 he should be learned in 
law and in military science ; 14° he must in all things provide for 
the welfare of the lower classes;*#* he must avoid levity 24" 
he is charged with the disposal of the means of the public wel- 
fare,*** and is the dispenser of honor; 14° he must not close his 
ear to the cries of the poor ; !°° he must raise aloft the roof-tree 
of the Church and extend abroad the worship of religion ; 1°! he 
must protect the Church against sacrilege and rapine ; 15? and 
finally, he must ever strive so to rule that in the whole commu- 
nity over which he presides none shall be sorrowful.* 

This patriarchal-ecclesiastical conception of monarchy and 
government forms part of a tradition which had become dom- 
inant sometime before the reign of Justinian and was destined 
to govern western thought almost until the end of the sixteenth 


135 Bk. iv., c. 3, infra. 186 Bk. iv., c. 8, infra. 137 Thid. 

138 Bk. iv., c. 2, infra. 189 Bk. iv., c. 3, infra. 140 Bk. iv., c. 2 infra. 
141 Bk. v., c. 6, infra. 142 Thid. 143 Bk. v., c. 10, infra. 

443 Bk, vi, c. 1, infra. aso Bk. vi, ¢. 2, infra. 

1* Bic Vi... 20,.c. 25, infra. 147 Bk. vi., c. 23, infra. 

148 Bk. vi. c. 24, infra. Po i.e Cy 20c anita, 

150 Bk. vi., c. 27, infra. 151 Bk. vi., c. 2, infra. 


158 Bk. vi., c. 6, infra. 152 Bk. vi., c. 13, infra. 


lii Introduction 


century.’°* It emerges with especial emphasis in the Carolin- 
gian period,’®® and writes itself into coronation oaths and of- 
ficial documents. Thus Otto the First, when crowned King of 
the Franks, swore that he would “drive out all the enemies of 
Christ by the divine authority committed to him, and would 
stretch out the hand of pity to the ministers of God and to all 
widows and orphans, and never be wanting in the oil of 


9 


mercy.’ °° Barbarossa seems to have sworn to defend the 
Church and the clergy of God, to keep peace and order, and to 
protect the widows and the fatherless and all his people, “that 
those who obeyed and trusted him might rejoice, and that he 
might win glory in the sight of men and eternal life with the 
King of Kings.” °* Bishop Adalbero at the election of Hugh 
Capet told the assembly, “you shall have him for a father; for 
who of you when in trouble shall not be able to take refuge with 
him and find in him a patron and protector?” +°8 It is interest- 
ing to note that in two treatises on royalty written during the 
Carolingian period,'®® there is quoted the same passage from a 
work certainly not earlier than the fifth century,1®° in which this 


154 See Sir Thomas More, “Utopia,” Everyman’s ed., pp. 39-40, for 
substantially the same conception of kingship as that of John of Salis- 
bury; so also Bodin, “Six Livres de la République,” Bk. ii., c. iii; 
George Buchanan, “De Jure Regni apud Scotos,’ cc. xxxvili., xxxix, 
also Epigram ii., 27. See P. Hume Brown, “George Buchanan, Hu- 
manist and Reformer,” p. 254. 

155 Seeliger, in Cambridge Mediaeval History, vol. ii, p. 656. 

156 Widukind, i1, c. 1, ed. Waitz, M. G. A SSin i eee 

157 Jaffé, Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum, at Tet 513. Wibaldi 
epp., no. 382. 

158 Richer, Chron., ed. Waitz, p. 133. . 

159 Jonas ae Orleans, De Inst. Reg., c. 3; Hincmar of Rheims, De 
regis persona et regio ministerio, c. 2, Migne, P. L., tom. 125, 833 ff.. 

160 The passage is from a work entitled “De Duodicum Abusionibus 
Saecult,” (c. 9), wrongly attributed by mediaeval writers to St. Cyprian, 
and printed among his works (Migne, P. L., tom. 4, col. 870 at col. 
877 ff.). A scholarly edition of this work under the earlier title “De 
Duodecim Abusivis Saeculi’ has been published by S. Hellmann (Texte 
und Untersuchungen sur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, ed. 


Introduction liii 


ecclesiastical-patriarchal conception of royalty is very fully de- 
veloped; and the passage as an obviously important source of 
much of the later theory deserves comparison with the state- 
ment of the ruler’s duties in the Policraticus: “The justice of 
a King is this: not to use his power to oppress any one; to judge 
between a man and his neighbor without respect of persons; to 
be the defender of pilgrims and orphans and widows ; to prevent 
thefts : to punish adultery ; not to exalt the wicked to power ; not 
to nourish unchaste persons and actors; to destroy the wicked 
from the face of the earth; not to permit parricides and _per- 
jurers to live; to defend churches; to sustain the poor by alms; 
to place righteous men in charge of the business of the realm ; to 
have old men and wise men and sober men for his counsellors ; 
not to give ear to the superstitions of magicians, soothsayers 
and pythonesses; to put away anger ; to defend the land bravely 
and righteously against foes; to trust to God in all things; to 
hold the Catholic faith in God; not to permit his sons to act 
wickedly ; to attend to prayers at regular hours ; not to take food 
before the appointed hours.” ?*! This passage practically sums 


Harnack and Schmidt, vol. 34, Leipzig, 1910). Hellmann points out 
the extensive influence of the work upon Carolingian and later political 
literature, and ascribes its origin to southwestern Ireland between 630 
and 700. See also Bury, “Life of St. Patrick,’ p. 205. 

161 This passage is adopted by Abbo of Fleury (c. 990) as expressing 
his view of monarchy. “Receuil des Histor. de Frances t.)- p. 627. 
The way in which it reached him is interesting. He attributes it to the 
Seat eouncil-bf Paris; canons, ii, c. 1; ° The second book of canons 
of this Council incorporates practically in its entirety the treatise of 
Jonas of Orleans above referred to, including of course Jonas’s quota- 
tion from the “De Abusionibus” (Mansi, xiv, 574 ff.). Prou thinks 
that the treatise of Jonas is a mere copy from the canons rather than 
that the canons are taken from the treatise, preface to Hincmar’s “De 
Ordine Palatii,” ed. Prou, Bibl. de L’fcole des Hautes Etudes fasc. 
58, p. xxv. The same conclusion was reached earlier by B. Simson, 
“Jahrbiicher des Frankischen Reichs unter Ludwig den Frommen,” i 
381 ff. 


bf 


liv Introduction 


up all that John of Salisbury has to say on the duties of the 
prince. He has nothing to add to it.* 

The patriarchal-ecclesiastical conception of monarchy thus 
looked upon the relations between the monarch and his sub- 
jects as purely personal. Its ideal was Job sitting in the gate 
and rendering judgment in favor of the widow and the poor 
man,!** an ideal which was actually realized in St. Louis’s well- 
known practice of doing justice under the oak at Vincennes.*®* 
It ignored altogether the question of the organization of an ad- 


162 For a similar conception of monarchy in Justinian’s Novels, see 
Bussell, “The Roman Empire,’ vol. ii. pp. 50 ff. The duties of a king 
are set forth as follows by Hugh of Flavigny (c, 1100): “The duty 
of a king is to rule the people of God in justice and equity; to be the 
defender of churches, the protector of widows and orphans, to deliver 
the poor man from the mighty and the needy man whom there is none 
to aid; and like blessed Job to break the jaws of the unjust man and 
bear away his prey from his teeth; to be the father of the poor, an 
eye to the blind and a foot to the lame” (M. G. H., SS., viii, p. 436). 
The passage is copied by Hugh of Fleury, “Tract. de Reg. Pot.” i., 6 
(Libelli de Lite, ii., p. 473). For a collection of passages from con- 
temporaneous writers setting forth the same view see Waitz, “Deutsche 
Verfassungsgeschichte” (ed. 18096), vi, 469ff. A familiar type of 
treatise consisted of a list of the virtues proper to a king, and a moral 
discourse on each.’ Such is the “Via Regia” of Abbot Smaragdus, a 
Carolingian writer (Migne, P. L., tom. cii, col. 931 ff.), and the first 
book of the “De Principis Instructione” of Giraldus Cambrensis at the 
end of the twelfth century (Opera, Rolls Series, no. 21, vol. viii.). Cf. 
also Sedulius Scotus, “Liber de Rectoribus Christianis,” Migne. P. L., 
tom. cili, col. 201. 

163 Bk. yv., c. 6, 8, mfra. 

164 De Joinville, “Histoire de Saint Louis,’ ed. Natalis de Wailly, p. 35. 
It is to be observed that John conceives of the king’s public functions 
as falling into two departments, military and judicial. See Bk. vi, c. 2, 
infra. The King’s non-military duties consist in knowing and applying 
the law, not in making it. John nowhere suggests the existence of an 
earthly legislative power vested in the king or elsewhere. .Law-making 
was still viewed as a part of the judicial process,—a more or less sur- 
reptitious incident of “jus dicere.’ See J. Pétrau-Gay, “La Notion 
de ‘Lex’ dans la Coutume Salienne,’ Grenoble, 1920, p. 28. For other 
examples of the ‘judicial’ conception of the kingly office, see Jonas of 
Orleans, “De Institut. Reg.,’ c. 4; Hincmar, “De regis persona, etc.,” 
cai6, 


Introduction lv 


ministrative mechanism for establishing an impersonal contact 
between government and the individual. There is no hint 
of this problem in the Policraticus. From the theoretical stand- 
point it thus omitted some of the most important problems of 
the science of government. From the practical standpoint it 
was at once the cause and the reflection of the condition of af- 
fairs which resulted in the administrative disintegration that we 
know as feudalism. The relation of the prince to his subjects 
being conceived as not essentially different from their relation 
to one another, there follows naturally the distintegration of 
public law into private law which characterizes the middle ages. 
The relation of the subjects to one another being conceived as 
not different from their relations to the prince, there resulted 
the establishment by the more powerful subjects of what prac- 
tically amounted to princely power over their lesser neighbors. 
The same tendency was furthered by the conception of princely 
power as paternal; every lord of a large household was neces- 
sarily regarded by John of Salisbury 1 as in some sort a 
prince. The patriarchal conception of authority thus worked 
toward the same result as the conception of a pre-established 
higher law.1®° Furthermore, the existence of only a personal as 
distinguished from an institutional bond between the prince and 
his subordinate officials 1°’ operated on the one hand to make 
efficient supervision of the administrative system impossible, 
and on the other hand to place their relations on a footing of 
private law which lent a color of legality to claims of feudal in- 


$Ob BK. Vi, C. 22, c..27, infra. 

166 “The mediaeval view of government admitted and indeed re- 
quired that wealth and social influence should be accompanied by polit- 
ical power. ... Every householder had some jurisdiction under his 
roof-gutter and within the hedge. Personal authority over domestic 
servants and slaves took among other things the shape of criminal and 
police jurisdiction.” Vinogradoff, in Cambridge Mediaeval History, 
vol. ii., p. 651. 

167 Supra, p. XXvili 


lvi Introduction 


dependence. Feudalism was thus bred in part from the very 
ideas of personal absolutism which superficially seem most 
strongly opposed to it. Its persistence was to some degree due 
to the fact that its presuppositions were accepted by its op- 
ponents.1®* | 
The absence of any sense of the need for organizing on an 
institutional basis the relations between the prince and _his 
subordinates no doubt accounts for the scandalous venality of 
the bureaucracy which so much of the Policraticus is devoted to 
castigating.’*’ It is a result which always follows from such a 
cause; it did so in the Byzantine Empire 1 and in the Renais- 
sance monarchies of the sixteenth century.17+ The restraining 
influence of purely personal supervision is entirely inadequate 
to control a large body of officials functioning over a wide ter- 
ritorial area; an institutionalized system of responsibility can 
alone develop the tradition and enforce the practice of honest ef- 
ficiency. It has been well said that when more power is con- 
ferred upon the people than they are able to exercise, effective 
control is really taken from them, and similarly when more 
power is left in the hands of the prince than he can humanly ex- 
ercise, effective power passes really to an irresponsible bureau- 
cracy. | 
There is much food for modern thought in John of Salis- 
bury’s attempt to correct the abuses of governmental power by 
strenuously preaching the virtues of personal morality. It was 


168 When the French kings by the middle of the fourteenth century 
had succeeded in getting possession of the greater feudal principalities 
which they had been striving to control for more than two centuries, 
they could think of nothing better to do with them than to parcel 
them out as “appanages” among younger members of the royal family 
in whose hands they became the basis of a new feudalism. See Lodge, 
“The Close of the Middle Ages,” p. 46. 

169 Bk. 'v., Cc, 10, 11, 15, 16;-Bky vil eiaieeere 

170 Bussell, “The Roman Empire,” vol. ii., p. 53 ff,; 93 ff. 

171 L, Einstein, “Tudor Ideals,’ pp. 56-62. 

172 Henry Jones Ford, “Rise and Growth of American Politics,” p. 209. 


Introduction Ivii 
the only-method that he knew. It is the method which still 
appeals most strongly to the average human beings who have in 
their hands the destinies of modern democracies. But the teach- 
ing of all political history proves that it is a futile rethod. 
Men’s qualities and standards are determined largely by their 
opportunities and temptations. John himself saw this,!7* but 
it led him to no more fruitful conclusion than a lapse into the 
Stoic recommendation, so inconsistent with all the rest of his 
teaching, that a man who wished to preserve his virtue should 
_ have nothing to do with public affairs. “Who desires to be 
good, let him quit the court.” 174 If this is the inevitable con- 
clusion, political philosophy is a vain and unprofitable study. 

John is innocent of any idea of correcting the abuses of ad- 
ministration by an institutional organization of public func- 
tions under the prince. Everything rests in his personal 
judgment. Everything is “guided solely by the determinations 
of his own mind.” 17° And this absolutism is tinctured with el- 
ements which enable us to see the patriarchal origins of the 
feudal point of view. The prince is in a sense the owner of all 
the goods of his subjects. Private law is again called into play 
and the subjects are conceived as mere tenants by superficies ; 
and “when the advantage of the ruling power so requires, they 
are not so much owners of their possessions as mere custodians. 
But if there is no pressure of necessity, then the goods of the 
provincials are their own and not even the prince himself may 
lawfully abuse them.” 17° On the other hand “the prince will 
not regard as his own the wealth of which he has the custody for 
the account of others, nor will he treat as private the property 
of the fisc, which is acknowledged to be public. Nor is this 
any ground for wonder, since he is not even his own man, but 
belongs wholly to his subjects.” 277 This is a view which can 


173 Bk, v., c. 10, infra. 174 Bk. ¥., t. 6 afro, 
175 Thid. 176 Bk. vi., c. 1, infra. 177 Bk, iv., c. 5, infra. 


Iviil Introduction 


easily degenerate into the claim of the overlord to ownership of 
all the goods of his vassals; *** while in its essence it seems to 
approach quite nearly to the modern conception of trusteeship. 
The king can take and use the goods of his subjects when neces- 
sary for the common advantage; and he is accountable not to 
their judgment but only to the “higher law.” Implicit belief 
in the certainty of this law and its enforcement serves to con- 
ceal the danger of entrusting such power to an individual. On 
the other hand, a power of “eminent domain” had obviously to 
be vested somewhere ; and John and his contemporaries were in- 
capable of conceiving it as vested in the state itself because they 
could not yet conceive of the universitas as acting except through 
the prince, or as having a persona of its own apart from the 
persona of the prince. In other words, they had to think in 
terms of trusts and not of corporations; and they could do so 
without difficulty because they had the higher law to fall back 
upon. 


IV. THE CHURCH 


John of Salisbury’s conception of the Church is a corollary 
of his view that the “higher” law is the law of God; and that 
“every office existing under and concerned with the execution 
of the sacred laws is really a religious office.” 1’? Therefore 
both the organization of the state and the ecclesiastical organiza- 
tion are agencies for the administration and execution of the 
same body of divine rules and precepts. The sacerdotal power 
is a part of the same “body” or commonwealth as the princely 
or temporal power.'®® So far, this is but the traditional Ge- 
lasian doctrine,'*t which had gained general currency at the 


178 See More, “Utopia,” Everyman’s ed., p. 38. 

179 Bk, iv., c. 3, infra. 180 Bk. v., ¢. 2, fra. 

181 Gelasius I., Ep. viii, ad Anastasium Imp., Migne, P. L., tom. lix, 
col. 41; Carlyle, History of Mediaeval Political Theory, i, 190. 


Introduction lix 


hands of Carolingian writers. But even the Carolingian writ- 
ers had gone farther and maintained that while emperors might 
be “judged” by priests, priests could not be judged by emper- 
ors.*** It is interesting to note that one of these writers, Jonas 
of Orleans, cities the emperor Constantine as authority for this 
proposition ; *** while John of Salisbury in further developing 
it relies upon stories of the acts and words of Constantine 
_ at the Council of Nicaea.** The priestly power cannot be 
judged by the temporal power because the functions of the 
latter are of inferior dignity, consisting essentially in physical 
coercion and “being typified in the person of the hangman.” 
The wielder of temporal power ‘“‘is therefore, as it were; the 
minister of the priestly power for the purpose of enforcing 
the divine law by physical sanctions, and receives his sword 
from the Church.”’ In the organic analogy the priesthood holds 
the place of the soul in the body as the prince holds that of the 
head; and hence the prince is subject “to those who exercise 
God’s office and represent Him on earth, even as in the human 
body the head is quickened and governed by the soul.” 18° God . 
regards the honor or dishonor of those who “administer the 
divine laws, i. e. the priesthood, as His own, saying ‘Who hears 
you, hears me.’’’1*® Accordingly Constantine had declared 
that “it was not permissible for him, as a man, and one who 
was subject to the judgment of priests, to examine cases touch- 
ing Gods, who cannot be judged save by God alone.” 187 Fur- 
thermore, since God sometimes uses the priesthood as the means 
of conferring kingship,*** they have the power to take away 
that which they have the power to bestow; and John cites the 
example of the transfer of the Hebrew crown from Saul to 
David by Samuel.!®? 


182 Jonas of Orleans, De Inst. Reg., c. 2. 183 Tbid. 
184 Bk, v., c. 2, infra. 185 Bk. v., c. 2., infra. 
186 Bk. v., c. 5, infra. 187 Bk, iv., c. 3, mfra. 


188 Bk. v., c. 6, infra. 189 Bk, iv., c. 3, infra. 


lx Introduction 


With the question of the organization of the priestly hierarchy 
John does not deal directly ; his views must be pieced together 
from statements made in other connections. He was of the 
school and generation of Bernard of Clairvaux, who had made 
it their ideal to exalt the papal primacy. Accordingly he says 
that the “Roman Church’—i.e. the Apostolic See,—is the 
“mother and head of all the churches.” 1% ‘Whoever dis- 
sents from the teaching of the Roman Church is either a heretic 
or a schismatic.” 7°t “The Roman Church by the high author- 
ity of God is the parent and nursing mother of faith and life, 
and, fortified by the privilege of Heaven, can neither be judged 
nor blamed of men.’ 1°? “Judgment upon the supreme pontiff 
is reserved for (aod alone 43 

On the other hand he makes it clear that he does not approve 
of the direct centralization of church administration at Rome 
by the grant of exemptions and immunities from the jurisdic- 
tion of the local bishops and other church authorities.°%* “IT 
do not presume,” he says, “‘to criticize the generosity of the 
Apostolic See, but I do think that these indulgences which it 
grants are not to the advantage of the Church of God... I 
say that men who seek exemptions of this character would 
cast off the yoke of Christ and his Father if they could; nay 
even, I say more, they do cast off His yoke, so far as in them 
lies, and falsely contradict the divine ordinances.” 1°° Others, 
to shield their malice from correction, “get themselves altogether 
exempted from the jurisdiction of the churches and cause 
themselves to be received as special children of the Roman 
Church, with the result that while they may sue in any court, 
they cannot be sued save at Rome or Jerusalem.” *°° John 


190 Bk, vi., c. 24, infra. 191 Bk, vi., Cc. 24, infra. 

192 Bk. viii., c. 17, infra. 193 Bk, vili., c. 23, infra. 

194 For the same view see St. Bernard, “De Consideratione,” iii., 4, 
§ 17, tr. Lewis, p. 80. 

195 Bk. viii., c. 19, infra. 196 Bk, vii., c. 21, infra. 


Introduction Ixi 


_ protests repeatedly that he has no intention of criticizing or 


resisting the Apostolic See; 1*7 but he expresses disapproval of 
some of its acts and a belief that they were due to improper 
pressure brought to bear upon it.2° 

The impression left by John’s whole discussion of the organi- 
zation and state of the Church is that it is hesitating and ambigu- 
ous. He says at one point that the Supreme Pontiff is above 
the law; and while this might seem to admit a complete dis- 
pensing power in the Pope, he hastens to add that one who 
is in such a position “is all the more strictly obliged not to 
commit unlawful acts.” °° Elsewhere he criticizes the Pope for 
granting a privilege which was contrary to the canons,—i. e. 
for an exercise of the dispensing power,?—and thus seems to 
imply that the Pope like other magistrates is after all under the 
“higher law” which the canons reproduce. John conceives of 
the Pope no more than the Prince as “sovereign” in the modern 
sense. 
John is similarly ambiguous in dealing with the thorny, and 
in his day extremely practical, question of disputed papal elec- 
tions. He deplores that the papal throne has too often been 
the prize contended for by ambitious men who “tear the Church 
asunder and profane the sanctuary, shake the nations, harry 
kingdoms, to procure but a wider license and larger immunity 
for themselves, to heap up money, to favor, agerandize, and 
corrupt flesh and blood, to ennoble their families, to lord it 
over their flocks rather than to be an example unto them. Such 
men are more rightly to be numbered among tyrants than 
among princes.” *°t He makes, perhaps only half in earnest, the 
naive suggestion that the world should stand aside and let 
such contenders fight out their quarrel; after which the de- 
feated party should be drowned in the Tiber and the victor 

197 Bk. vii., c. 21; Bk. viii. c. 17, infra. 


198 Bk. vii., c. 21; Bk. viii., c. 23, infra. 199 Bk, viii, c. 23, infra. 
200 Bk, vii., c. 21, infra. 201 Bk, viii.,.c. 23, infra. 


Ixti Introduction 


condemned to penal servitude in the mines or quarries.*°? But 
one who has been canonically elected must be held for pope, 
whoever he be.2°* The question of what election is canonical is 
not discussed, being apparently remitted to the higher law, which 
can only mean to the judgment of the individual.** 

Most of John of Salisbury’s discussion of church affairs oc- 
curs in connection with his bitter invectives against abuses, of — 
which he emphasizes chiefly the advancement of improper 
persons to church preferment, and the resulting corruption in 
the exercise of ecclesiastical authority.2"° Following the tradi- 
tions of the reforming party in the Church during the preceding 
century, he traces the root of the evil-to the influence of the 
secular authority in ecclesiastical appointments; *°° but even 
papal legates “at times rage through the provinces in such 
bacchanalian frenzy as if Satan himself had come forth from 
the presence of the Lord to scourge the Church” ; *°’ and it was 
contrary to all custom and experience for a legate to return 
poor after discharging an embassy.?°* One of the most vivid 
chapters of the Policraticus is that in which John recounts a 
conversation with his friend, Pope Adrian IV, in which he 
frankly disclosed to the pontiff his opinion of the shortcomings 
of the Roman See. He thought that many, if not most, of 

202 Bk. viii., c. 23, infra. 203 [bid. 

204 John of Salisbury in later life took an active part in the Third 
Lateran Council of 1178 which promulgated the decree “Licet de 
Evitanda’” regulating the rules of Papal elections. 

205 “For the most part such men have been promoted by the court to — 
the offices of the Church against the unanimous wishes of the faithful.” 
Bk. v., c. 16, infra. 

206 Tbid. 207 Tbid. 

208 Bk. v., c. 15, infra. Note also the ironical tone in Bk. vili., c. 17, 
where John, after saying that he will not criticize the Roman See, pro- 
ceeds to recount the outrages of legates and ends by saying that these 
things cannot be, because they are unthinkable. Says St. Bernard: “To 
think of a legate returning from a land of gold without gold! Does 
it not sound like news from another world?” De Consideratione, iv, 5, 
§ 13, tr. Lewis, p. 112, 


‘Introduction xiii 


| the Roman officials were pure and honest, but “the contamina- 


tion of the dishonest few brings infamy upon the Church 
universal; and in my opinion the reason why they die so fast 
is to prevent their corrupting the entire Church . . . Father, 
you are wandering in the trackless wilderness, and have strayed 


_ from the true way.” *°° And in almost the last chapter of the 


Policraticus, John sets forth the practically impossible position 
of the Pope, who in order to maintain himself on his throne 
must make compromises and yield to influences which taint him 
with the very sins and vices which it should be his chief duty 
to combat and destroy. “If he follows these practices, must he 
not condemn himself with his own voice?” 21° 

It is hard to resist the impression in analyzing ie dis- 
cussion of the Church that we are witnessing the crumbling of 
an ideal. The reformers of the eleventh century had seen no 
other way of purifying the Church and restoring its moral and 
spiritual influence than by setting it wholly free from temporal 
control and erecting it upon a pinnacle of supremacy under a 
world-wide authority of its own, embodied in the Papacy. It 
remained for their successors in the twelfth century to witness 
the subtle corrosion of the church organization itself by the 
same influences which they had been taught to regard as wholly 
due to secular causes. The result is a vague feeling on the part 
of both St. Bernard and John of Salisbury that something is 
wrong; and it is perhaps in consequence of this feeling that 
John’s discussion of the Church is on the whole so unsatis- 
factory, and marred by so many inconsistencies. Two things, 
however, stand out from it with sufficient clearness: he held 
firmly to a theory of papal supremacy, however uncertain he 
may have been as to just what was meant by that supremacy; 
and he held with equal firmness to the notion that the church 
organization, like the organization of temporal government, 


209 Bk. vi., c, 24, infra. #10 Bk, viii., ¢. 23, infra. 


Ixiv Introduction 


was but an instrumentality for applying a “higher” law which 
marked out the duties of church authorities no less than of 
laymen. Following centuries were to witness the gradual di- 
vergence of these conceptions.?"? | 

John’s treatment of the relation of the Church to the temporal 
ruler is marked by similar ambiguities.?!? He is explicit enough 
in his positive assertions that the prince is subject to the priest- 
hood and is but the minister of priests. This might be expected 
to lead logically to the conclusion that the prince must sub- 
mit to the supreme adjudication of the priesthood all questions 
requiring an interpretation of the divine law. But John no- 
where institutionalizes to this extent the priestly supremacy. 
Responsibility for bringing human law into accord. with equity 
rests upon the Prince himself. Where the Church has al- 


211 Robert Grosseteste in the middle of the 13th century displays far 
more clearly than John of Salisbury the conflict between an implicit ac- 
. ceptance of Papal Supremacy and a sense of intolerable evils and cor- 
ruption within the Church. See A. L. Smith, “Church and State in the 
Middle Ages,’ Lecture III. 

212 See especially Bk. iv., c. 3; Bk. iv., c. 6, infra. A clear statement 
of the ambiguities of John’s view of the relation of Church and state 
is that of Ernst Schubert, “Die Staatslehre Johann’s von Salisbury.” 
Inaug. Diss. (Erlangen), Berlin, 1897, “If we take certain of John’s 
general expressions as to the relation of Church and state, the view 
which results of the basis of the relation is the extreme hierarchical one 
. .. John thus seems to be the first who theoretically put forward the 
complete absorption of the state in the Church; his theory of the two 
swords could not be more destructive of the state. But if we examine 
his theories more closely on precisely this point, we must agree that on 
several very critical points, as for example, the choice of the prince by the 
priests, the right of the Church to depose the ruler, the manner and 
way in which the Church communicates its commands to the prince and 
imposes them upon him, he simply evades them silently. This shows 
that he did not have in mind a complete subjection and absorption of 
the state in practice, as his theories seem to indicate, but rather regards 
the prince and the state as servants of the Church and of the priest- 
hood only in an ideal sense, that is to say, only when the priests are 
really such as they ought to be.” (Op. cit., p. 36). I am the more 
inclined to agree with Dr. Schubert as I had reached the same con- 
clusion before I saw his monograph. 


Introduction Ixy 


ready acted and laid down a rule he must follow it. If “law- 
ful” priests advise him, he must hearken to them. But there 
is no assertion that he must remit all doubtful points to their 
decision, or that they constitute a governmental organ vested 


_ with the official function of deciding such questions as a legal 


tribunal of last appeal. It would be easy to draw such a con- 


clusion from his premises, but John does not draw it himself, 


Instead, he says that the ruler must know the law personally, 
and to that end should learn to read; but if he cannot read, then 


he should learn the law from the mouths of priests. “In ac- 
_ cordance with their preaching should the ruling power guide the 


government of the magistracy committed to him.” 
The impression produced by such language is that John con- 
ceived the Church as having rather what we should today call 
a moral supremacy than a strictly legal one.2** Of course, he 
would not have understood such a distinction; and as time 
passed and ideas came to be defined with greater legal precision, 
such views as his tended to shape themselves into the papal claim 
of something like legal sovereignty over the whole world. But 
no such articulated doctrine is to be found in the Policraticus. 
John does not even specify what priests the prince must obey ; 
apparently he is thinking of all priests indiscriminately, pro- 
vided only they be “legitimate.” Obviously such obedience is 
characterized by an informality which is difficult to bring within 
the modern categories of legal or political subordination.2" 


213 The Carolingian writers had definitely expressed this idea by de- 
fining the function of the bishop as that of “oversight.” Hinemar, “De 
Ordine Palatii,” c. v., ed. Prou, p. 16. 

214 John’s theory is ordinarily represented as an extreme form of the 
doctrine that temporal governments are subject to the political and 
legal supremacy of the priesthood. “The safest conclusion would be 
that in John of Salisbury and Honorius of Augsburg we find the first 
definite statement that all authority, ecclesiastical or secular, belongs to 
the spiritual power.” Jacob, in “Social and Political Ideas of Some 
Great Mediaeval Thinkers,’ p. 79. John “gathered together in his 
hand the separate threads of argument which had here and there been 


Ixvi Introduction 

Precisely because it was thus informally conceived, the doctrine 
was able to maintain itself; it broke down in the moment of 
achieving final legal definition.?*° 


V. TyRANNY, TYRANNICIDE, AND INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY 


The doctrine of the Policraticus is that there can be “tyranny”’ 


wherever there is rulership. “Tyranny exists not only in the - 


case of princes, but everyone is a tyrant who abuses power 
that has been granted to him from above over those who are 
subjected to him.” ?® “In common speech the tyrant is one 


used by the Hildebrandine party and busied himself in weaving out of 
them, as well as out of newly invented material of his own, an endur- 
ing and colorful web wherein all the relations of the political and legal 
life of individuals as well as of peoples are firmly held together by the 
indestructible connecting link of the universal supremacy of the Church.” 
Gennrich, “Staats-und Kirchenlehre Johanns von Salisbury, p. 157. 
See also Schaarschmidt, p. 348; Carlyle, “History of Mediaeval Political 
Theory,’ vol. 4, pp. 335-6; Gierke, “Political Theories of the Middle 
Age,’ tr. Maitland, note 10. It seems to me that this view is the result of 
unconsciously reading into the Policraticus the clean-cut definiteness 
of constitutional ideas with which we are familiar but of which John 
of Salisbury was innocent. His conception of the relations between 
Church and state cannot be interpreted in terms of constitutional law 
because he drew no distinction between constitutional and moral con- 
ceptions. His doctrine undoubtedly pointed in the direction of the con- 
stitutional supremacy of the church but did not itself embody it. 
Schubert seems to me correct in his view that most of the interpretation 
of John’s doctrine has been one-sided (Die Staatslehre Johanns von 
Salisbury, p. 8) and that “the theories of the Policraticus are not ex- 
clusively of the high ecclesiastical variety but are combined with others 
which attribute to the state a high and independent significance” (ibid., 
p. 40 ff., pp. 36-37). 

215 “Unam S'anctam’ preceded by one year the collapse at Anagni, 
and by three years the subjection of the Papacy to the French King. 

216 Bk, vill, c. 18. “Tyrant” is a name frequently applied, from the 
Carolingian period onward, to the feudal magnates who were forcibly 
extending their authority. Einhard, Vita Caroli, c. 2; Suger, Vita Lu- 
dovici, c. xxiii, Oeuvres, ed. Lecoy de la Marche, pp. 92-93, William 
of Newburgh, Historia Rerum Anglicarum, i, 22, in “Chronicles of the 


Reigns of Stephen, Henry II., and Richard I.,;” Rolls Series, no. 82, i, 69. — 


Introduction Ixvii 


who oppresses a whole people by rulership based on force; and 
yet it is not only over the people as a whole that a man can 
play the tyrant, but he can do so, if he will, in the meanest 
elation a... ‘It is not only kings who practice tyranny, 
but among private men there are a host of tyrants, since the 
power which they have, they turn to some forbidden objeet.275 
These passages illustrate the absence of any clear distinction 
in John’s thought between the social and the political ; abuse of 
public power is conceived simply in terms of a breach of per- 
sonal morality. 

So there may be tyranny on the part of persons holding ec- 
clesiastical as well as temporal offices ; 2!° and “of the two kinds 
the ecclesiastical tyrant is worse than the temporal.” 22° Much 
of John’s discussion of the behavior of tyrants has reference to 
the ecclesiastial variety; but his theory of temporal tyrants is 
far more complete and well-defined. 

In the sphere of temporal rulership the difference between a 
prince and a tyrant is that the prince obeys “the law,” while the 
tyrant “oppresses the people by rulership based upon force, 
and regards nothing as accomplished unless the laws are brought 
to nought and the people reduced to slavery.” 24. John then 
quotes the traditional etymology of “rex,” which connected it 
with “recte,” and gave a basis for the argument that he alone is 
entitled to the name of king who rules rightly.??? This leads to 
the further inference that the will of the prince cannot be 
unjust or opposed to the law, because when it becomes so, he 


#17 Bk. viii., c. 17 infra. 218 Thid.. 219 Bk. viii. c. 23, infra. 

220 See especially Bk. vii., c. 17; Bk. viii., c. 17, c. 23, infra. 

po Ei evili, C. 17, infra. The idea that the difference between a 
prince and a tyrant consists in the fact that the one rules in accordance 
with law, and the other not, goes back in ecclesiastical tradition to St. 
Gregory’s Com. on Job, xv., 20, Migne, P. L., xxv, 1006. 

#22 Tor, Ep., i, 1, 50-60; the definition seems: to have come into 
serious political thought with St. Isidore of Seville, Etym., ix., 3, Migne, 
. Ly tom, 82, 342: 


Ixvili Introduction 


then ceases to be truly a prince and becomes a tyrant instead. 
“The will of the true ruler depends upon the law of God... 
but the will of a tyrant is the slave of his desire.” ??* It is there- 
fore quite proper to say that the will of the Prince has the force 
of law, because, insofar as he is truly a prince, his will cannot 
fail to be in accordance with the law.?24 “Who, indeed, in re- 
spect of public matters can properly speak of the will of the 


prince at all, since therein he may not lawfully have any will of 


his own, apart from that which the law or equity enjoins, or the 
calculation of the common interest requires? For in these mat- 
ters his will is to have the force of a judgment; and most prop- 
erly that which pleases him therein has the force of law, because 
his decision may not be at variance with the intention of 
equity) 44% 

Having by this sleight-oi-hand reconciled the doctrine of a 
“higher law” with the text “Quod principi placet,’ it would no 
doubt have been possible for John to proceed to the conclusion 
later reached by Bartolus that some or all of the acts of the 
tyrant are legally void, and that his rule is without authority ; °?° 
but he does not do so; for his way is here blocked by another 
current of authority to which he could hardly have dared to 
refuse deference. This is the tradition proceeding from the 
scriptural texts ‘““The powers that be are ordained of God,” 22? 
and “Servants, obey your masters.” *? The tyrant must be 
regarded as holding his power from God no less than the 
true prince, for “all power is from the Lord God. . . . It is not 
the ruler’s own act when his will is turned to cruelty against 


223 Bk. vili., c. 22. infra. 

224 Dante attempted to show realistically that one who was sole 
monarch of the world must have a will directed toward good, for there 
is nothing further for him to desire. De Mon., i., 11, 5. 

225 Bk. iv. c. I, infra. 

226 See Bartolus, “De Tyrannia,” trans. in Emerton, “Humanism and 
Tyranny,” especially c. vii, pp. 134 ff. 

227 See Bk. iv., c. 1, infra. 228 Quoted Bk. vi., c. 27, infra. 


| 
| 


Introduction lxix 


his subjects, but it is rather the dispensation of God for His 
good pleasure to punish or chasten them. Power is worthy of 
veneration even when it comes as a plague upon the elect.” 22° 


_ “Even tyrants of the gentiles who have been damned unto death 
_ trom eternity are yet the ministers of God and are called the 


anointed of the Lord.” 2%° 

In other words, tyranny is a part of God’s providential order- 
ing of the universe, and, as such, it must be met with due sub- 
mission. “All power is good since it is from Him from 


_whom alone are all things, and from whom cometh only good. 


But at times it may not be good, but rather evil, to the particular 
individual . . . upon whom it is exercised, though it is good 
from the universal standpoint, being the act of Him who uses 
our evil for His own good purposes. Therefore the rule of a 
tyrant is good, although there is nothing worse than tyranny.” 2% 
“Because of the wickedness of our generation, who are con- 
tinually provoking against ourselves the wrath of God, it more 
frequently happens that power comes into the hands of bad, 
than of good, men.” **? “For tyrants are demanded, intro- 
duced, and raised to power by sin,” and “are properly deserved 
by a stiff-necked and stubborn people.” 2% And just as God 
inflicts a tyrant upon a sinful people, so when they turn from 
their wickedness, God frees them from the oppressor.2** A 
wicked king cannot escape the judgment of God. “Run through 
the sequence of all the histories, and you will see in brief 
the succession of kings and how they were cut off by God, 
like threads in the warp of a web.” 28° Therefore the best way 
to get rid of tyrants “is for those who are oppressed to take 
a2? Bk. iv., c. 1, infra. 280 Bk. viii., c. 18, infra. 

31 Ibid. This is a commonplace of the 12th century: “De bonis 
et de malis bene facit Deus qui omnia juste facit atque disponit. Et 
sic fit ut et malus angelus et malus homo divinae militent providentiae.” 
Hugh of Fleury, Tract de Reg. Pot., i., c. 4. 


232 Tbid. 233 Bk. viii., c. 20, infra. 
284 Ibid.; also Bk. iv, c. 11, infra. 285 Bk, iv., c. 12, infra. 


Ixx Introduction 


refuge humbly in the protection of God’s mercy, and, lifting 
up undefiled hands to the Lord, to pray devoutly that the scourge 
wherewith they are afflicted may be turned aside from them.” 2*¢ 
For “the end of tyrants is confusion, leading to destruction if 
they persist in malice, to pardon if they repent and return to 
the way of righteousness.” **’ Therefore a tyrant should be 
borne with in patience until he either suffers a change of heart 


or falls in battle, or otherwise meets his end by the just | 


judgment of God.?** 

The notion that in God’s good time tyrants are certain to 
meet a bad end is part of the conventional tradition of ecclesi- 
astical political theory. It is found in the early work “De Duo- 
decim Abusionibus Saeculi,” **° from which it is taken over by 
the Carolingian writers. According to this text if the king 
fails in his duty, many evils will come upon him and his land, 
his children will die, enemies will invade the provinces, there 
will be storms and tempests, wild beasts will devour the flocks, 
and his children will not inherit his throne.?*° In other words, 
his ruin will be brought about through causes wholly beyond 
the control of his subjects. They are encouraged to pray and 
to wait passively in the faith that God is just and will do 
justice. It is the strictly logical conclusion of the doctrine that 
tyrants are ministers sent of God. 

From this conclusion, John of Salisbury strikes off at an in- 
consistent tangent into one of the most interesting and character- 
istic of his contributions to political thought. His point of de- 
parture may have been the situation presented when the tyrant 
commands the Christian subject to perform an act which is 


236 Bk, viii, c. 20, infra. For a full statement of this doctrine see 
Hugh of Fleury, loc. cit. note 231, supra. 

287 Bk, viii., c. 21, infra. 288 Bk. vili., c. 20, infra. 

239 See above note 160. 

240 De Duodecim Abusionibus Saeculi, c. 9; Jonas of Orleans, De 
Inst. Reg., c. 3; Hincmar of Rheims, De Reg. Persona et Reg. Minist., 
Caz 


Introduction Ixxi 


contrary to the divine law. Here John’s theory of the higher 
law compels him to say that the subject is bound to decline 
obedience. God must be preferred before man.2*t “Loyal 
shoulders should sustain the power of the ruler so long as it 
is exercised in subjection to God and follows His ordinances ; 
but if it resists and opposes the divine commandments, and 
wishes to make me share in its war against God, then with un- 
restrained voice, I answer back that God must be preferred 
before any man on earth.” 242 
_ Whether in such a case John advocates active Opposition by 

the subject, or merely passive resistance as Luther was after- 
wards to do on practically the same premisses,?4* he does not 
make entirely clear. He appears to feel that as a matter of 
policy passive resistance is ordinarily best. “If princes have 
departed little by little from the true way, even so it is not 
well to overthrow them utterly at once, but rather to rebuke 
injustice with patient reproof until finally it becomes obvious 
that they are stiff-necked in evil-doing.” 244 But there may 
come a time when active resistance is necessary: “Better would 
it be by far were the diadem torn from the head of the prince 
than that the good order of the chief and best part of the com- 
monwealth, which is the part concerned with religion, should 
be destroyed at his pleasure.” 245 

The right of resistance thus established, the transition is 
almost inevitable to the thought that here is one of the in- 
struments which God can use in executing His judgment upon 
tyrants. Why should He be confined to resorting to the use of 
the inanimate forces of nature or the attacks of foreign enemies 
rather than to the arm of the tyrant’s oppressed subjects? Since 
God must have an intermediary in the physical world through 


241 Bk. vi., ¢. 9; c. 12, infra. 242 Bk. vi., c. 25, infra. 

243 Cf. J. W. Allen, “The Political Conceptions of Luther,” in “Tudor 
Studies,” ed. R. W. Seton-Watson, pp. 98-100. 

oe kay, -c.6., 247d. 245 Bk. vii., c. 20, infra. 


Ixxii Introduction 


which to administer His vengeance, why is not a subject justi- 
fied in becoming such an intermediary? ‘Malice is always 
punished by God; but sometimes it is His own, at others it is 
a human, hand which He employs to administer punishment 
to the unrighteous.” #4 This is apparently the chain of infer- 
ence which resulted in John’s famous doctrine of tyrannicide,?* 
a doctrine which perhaps more than any other part of the Poli- 
craticus engaged the attention of later mediaeval thinkers and 
which emerged into practical prominence during the period of 
the Counter-Reformation.?#8 . 

John bases his theory of tyrannicide on the authority of ex- 
amples drawn from scriptural, classical and ecclesiastical his- 
tory. Many times, he says, the Children of Israel were in 
bondage to tyrants in accordance with the dispensation of God, 
‘and then, when they cried aloud to God, they were set free. 
And when the allotted time of their punishment was fulfilled. 
they were allowed to cast off the yoke from their necks by the 
slaughter of their tyrants; nor is blame attached to any of 
those by whose valor a penitent and humbled people was thus 
set free, but their memory is preserved in affection and honor 
by posterity as the servants of God.” 74° By the example of 
Sisera and Holofernes he “establishes” that “it is just for public 
tyrants to be killed and the people set free for the service 
of God.” °° These stories show that the use of “pious dis- 
simulation” to lure tyrants to their ruin “is not treachery be- 


246 Bk. vili., c. 21, infra. And again: “The Lord employed first the 
sword of the angel against the army of the wicked king, and afterwards 
against the king himself He used the hands of his own sons.” Jbid. 

247 John of Salisbury was the first mediaeval writer to erect tyran- 
nicide into a doctrine and defend it with reasoned arguments. See 
Gennrich, “Die Staats- und Kirchenlehre Johanns von Salisbury,” pp. 
106 ff. 

248 See A. Douarche, De Tyrannicidio apud Scriptores xvi Seculi, 
Latin thesis, Paris, Hachette, 1888. 

249 Bk. villi. c. 20, infra. 250 Thid. 


Introduction Ixxill 


cause it serves the cause of the faith, and fights in behalf of 
charity.” “Even priests of God repute the killing of tyrants as 
piety, and if it should appear to wear the semblance of treachery, 
they say that it is consecrated to God by a sacred mystery.” 
But as for the use of poison against tyrants, John says that he 
has not read that it is ever permitted by any law. “Not that I 
believe that tyrants ought not to be removed from our midst, 
but it should be done without loss of religion and honor.” 2°! 
Similarly “the histories all teach that none should undertake the 
death of a tyrant who is bound to him by an oath or by the obli- 
gation of fealty.” *°? With these limitations, “it is as lawful to 
kill a tyrant as to kill a condemned enemy.” All these passages 
merely go to show that tyrannicide is not unlawful, and not that 
it is a positive duty; indeed it is in connection with them that 
John expressed his opinion, already quoted, that usually the 
safest and most expedient method of destroying tyrants is for 
those who are oppressed to pray to God that their scourge may 
be removed ; and he praises the forbearance of David, who “al- 
though he had to endure the most grievous tyrant, and although 
he often had an opportunity of destroying him, yet preferred 
to spare him, trusting to the mercy of God, within whose power 
it was to set him free without sin.” 2°? Elsewhere, however, 
John represents tyrannicide as amounting to a public duty. 
“To kill a tyrant,” he says, “is not merely lawful, but right and 
just. For whosoever takes up the sword deserves to perish 
by the sword. And he is understood to take up the sword who 
usurps it by his own temerity and who does not receive the 
power of using it from God. Therefore the law rightly takes 
arms against him who disarms the laws, and the public power 
rages in fury against him who strives to bring to nought the 
public force. And while there are many acts which amount to 
lése majesté, none is a graver crime than that which is aimed 


261 Bk. viii., c. 20, infra. 752Ibid. 253 Bk. viii, c. 20, infra. 


Ixxiv Introduction 


against the body of Justice herself. Tyranny therefore is not 
merely a public crime, but, if there could be such a thing, a 
crime more than public. And if in the crime of Jése majesté 
all men are admitted to be prosecutors, how much more should 
this be true in the case of the crime of subverting the laws 
which should rule even over emperors? Truly no one will 
‘avenge a public enemy, but rather whoever does not seek to bring 
him to punishment commits an offence against himself and the 
whole body of the earthly commonwealth.” 254 

John of Salisbury, it seems plain from this passage, had 
fundamentally no clear conception of the difference between 
private individual action and public collective action to rid the 
community of a tyrant. Or rather he seems to have been un- 
able to conceive of the community as capable of so ridding 
itself except by private action; the need for, or the possibility 
of, organized collective action is not suggested.2°> It was the 
obvious danger latent in the irresponsibility of private tyran- 
nicide which caught the attention of later thinkers and caused 
them to repudiate John’s position. St. Thomas points out that 
it would be subversive of all civil order if private individuals 
should claim the right to murder their governors on the ground 


254 Bk, iii, c. 15. This passage does not fall within the part of 
the Policraticus covered by my translation. Unlike the reference to 
tyranny in other parts of the work, it seems to emphasize usurpation 
of authority as the essence of tyranny. This suggests a possible fore- 
shadowing of the later distinction between “tyrants by defect of title” 
and “tyrants by abuse of power.” See Bartolus in Emerton, “Human- 
ism and Tyranny,” p. 132. The notion that usurpers—t. e. “tyrants by 
defect of title,’—might be lawfully resisted, although it was never law- 
ful to resist a legitimate hereditary ruler no matter how he might abuse 
his power, was advanced by an imperialist writer at the end of the 
eleventh century: Liber de unitate ecclesiae conservanda, i, 13, M. G. H., 
Libelli de Lite, ii, 173 ff. 

255 In the next generation after John of Salisbury, the doctrine of 
tyrannicide is stated as a commonplace by Giraldus Cambrensis, “De 
Principis Instructione,” Dis. I., c. xvi. Opera, Rolls Ser., no. 21, vol. 
Vili, p. 56: “Percussori tyranni non poena sed palma promittitur.” 


Introduction Ixxv 


that they believe them tyrants.2°* Coluccio Salutati undertakes 
to answer John specifically and denies that a single person or 
even several together can properly take justice into their own 
hands; the tyrant must be removed, if at all, only by the collec- 
tive action of the community.?* The question came to the 
attention of all Europe in a vivid and dramatic way at the begin- 
ning of the fifteenth century when the Council of Constance was 
called upon to condemn a book written by one Jean Petit in 
which the murder of Louis of Orleans at the instigation of the 
Duke of Burgundy was defended on the ground of the right of 
tyrannicide. Petit cited the Policraticus as an authority.7°° 
Gerson replied by arguing that to vest the right of tyrannicide 
in a subject would be to make him the legitimate judge of 
his ruler; and a legitimate judge, even the king himself, may 
not condemn an accused person without summons, trial and 
conviction. “Certainly no mere private individual can have 
greater authority over one not lawfully subject to him than a 
king has over his own subjects.” 25° 

John of Salisbury had based his doctrine of tyrannicide on 
the conception that a private individual may lawfully act to en- 
force “the law” against a tyrannical or “outlaw” ruler. What 


256 De Reg. Prin., Bk. i. c. 6. There is nothing to indicate that John 
did or did not regard the self-appointed slayer of a tyrant as in some 
informal way “representing,” or at least acting in behalf of, the com- 
munity. Perhaps he did. But since he permitted any individual to 
take this service upon himself without waiting for any orderly mandate 
from the community, the result certainly does not conform to our con- 
ception of organized community action. In most instances, however, 
John seems to have regarded the slayer of the tyrant as “representing” 
God rather than the community. 

257 “De Tyrannia,” c. ii., in Emerton, “Humanism and Tyranny,” p. 92. 
But Coluccio apparently holds that a private individual may assassinate 
a “tyrant by defect of title.” Ibid. p. 85. 

258 See his “Assertio Propositionum adversus magistrum Joannum de 
Gersono,” Gerson, Opera, (Antwerp, 1706) tom. v., col. 397. 

259“Reprobatio novem Assertionum Joannis Parvi,’ Op, er--tonti ve 
col. 363. 


Ixxvi Introduction 


later thought brought out was that law can be enforced only 
by an agent holding a legitimate mandate from the community. 
The difference between these two conceptions registers the 
most momentous advance in political thought during the 
interval; and it isolates and emphasizes the cardinal element 
which was missing from the political thought of the Poli- 
craticus and the whole tradition which it represents. John 
of Salisbury does not seem to have conceived that the com- 
munity, or universitas, could act except through the prince.?® 
If action was to be taken against him, it had therefore to be 
taken as private individual action. This seems to stand out 
clearly from the last passage quoted from the Policraticus. 
The action there contemplated against the prince is public ac- 
tion; but public action not taken through the prince cannot be 
organized action; it can only be action by all or any, that is to 
say, action by separate individuals. This is the natural out- 
come of the patriarchal conception of society as an organized 
hierarchy ; it is the same conception which no doubt lay at the 
bottom of Bodin’s denial that a representative assembly could do 
more than offer good. advice to the prince.?* 

But meanwhile in John of Salisbury’s own generation another 
idea was taking form which was to supply this missing element 
to later thought. It was an idea which seems to have had its 
source among the Roman lawyers, and it consisted in identify- 
ing the corporate or organized community with the whole mem- 
bership of the group,—the “universitas” with the “populus.” 
Once this idea had taken hold, it is no longer necessary to think 
that the community can act as a community only through the 
prince who is set over them by God; from now on they can 


260 This view is definitely expressed by Baldus in the fourteenth 
century: “imperator est ipsum imperium,” Com. on Cod., Bk. X., Rubr. 
I, nr. 13; see also Baldus, Consil., vol. iii., c. clix., nr. 5. John of Salis- 
bury himself seems to identify the corporate community with its head: 
“adversus caput aut universitatem membrorum.” Bk. vi, c. 25, infra. 

261 “Sia Livres de La République,” Bk. i., c. 8. ’ 


Introduction Ixxvii 


act through whatever organization they choose to shape for 
themselves. The idea of the king’s trusteeship gives way be- 
fore the idea of an autonomous corporation. The universitas 
ceases to be a mere inert thing whose “persona” is permanently 
delegated to and “borne by” the prince; it becomes an active 
unity, bearing its own “persona,” and capable of speaking and 
acting for itself, against the prince if need be. This is the idea 
which is already emerging in the.speech of Archbishop Hubert 
at the coronation of King John of England, above referred to; 
Hubert says that it is the wniversitas, not merely the “clerus et 
populus,” which must assent to the choice of a King. In other 
words the universitas can act independently of, and even against, 
the king. The importance of the idea for establishing a check 
on the king and eliminating the necessity of resort to tyranni- 
cide comes to a head in Bracton. Bracton like John of Salisbury 
says that the king is the vicar of God and as such is subject 
only to God; so that if he abuses his power, there is room only 
for supplication that he should amend his ways, and if he will 
not do this, he must be left to the judgment of God. But Brac- 
ton no more than John is content with this result; and by the 
same sort of sudden inconsistency with which John had ad- 
vanced the doctrine of tyrannicide, Bracton turns about upon 
himself and adds that the “universitas regni’ and “barona- 
gum,” acting through the king’s court, may restrain his tyr- 
anny.”°* Here is the beginning of a conception which men 
were more and more to grasp during the thirteenth century but 
which they were not to transform into effective political prac- 
tice until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.?°? 

Meanwhile the doctrine of individual action in the form of 
tyrannicide was, apart from the self-limitation of their own 


262 Bracton, iv., 10. 

263 ‘The idea first takes a firm hold in Buchanan’s “De Jure Regni 
apud Scotos,” cc. xxviii, and in the Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos, ed. 
Laski, pp. 127-136. 


Ixxviil Introduction 


power by rulers,*** the only conceivable check upon despotism; 
and at the same time it was the almost necessary inference from 
the doctrine of a higher law. For, after all, kings and govern- 
ments and organized communities had no peculiar prerogative 
to know and enforce that law; it was binding upon them no less 
than upon private individuals, and knowledge of it was the 
result of grace and wisdom and not of official position. If this 
view was honestly and fully accepted there was nothing in- 
herently objectionable in the idea that a private individual might 
enforce the law by private action; for its precepts were definite 
and. uniform and were as accessible to private persons as to 
officials. The doctrine of a higher law carried with it an in- 
evitable implication of what today would probably be called 
philosophic anarchism.?® 

It is not hard to see that this philosophic anarchism forms 
an important strain running through the thought of the Poli- 
craticus. It emerges in John’s yearning for a condition of so- 
ciety where there would be no princely rule, but men in a state 
of innocence would live together under “the law” in Christian 
love. “For if iniquity and injustice, banishing charity, had not 
brought about tyranny, firm concord and perpetual peace would 
have possessed the peoples of the earth forever, and no one 
would think of enlarging his boundaries. Then kingdoms would 


264 Bk, viii, c. 20, infra. . 

265 For John’s individualism, see Gennrich, “Die Staats- und Kirchen- 
lehre Johanns von Salisbury,” p. 14; E. F. Jacob in “The Social and 
Political Ideas of Some Great Mediaeval Thinkers,” pp. 61 ff. Genn- 
rich, loc cit., points out the significant absence from John’s thought of 
any consideration of the connection between individual and social life 
or of the transition from one to the other. For a survival in the sev- 
enteenth century of the notion that there was no agency save the con- 
science of individuals to judge whether the ruler had broken the “fun- 
damental laws,” see the passages from Philip Hunton’s Treatise of 
Monarchy quoted and criticized in Sir Robert Filmer’s Anarchy of 
Mixed Monarchy, in The Freeholders Grand Inquest (ed. 1680), pp. 
205, 272. 


Introduction Ixxix 


be as peaceful, according to the great father Augustine, and 
would enjoy as undisturbed repose as the separate families in 
a well-ordered state, or as different persons in the same family ; 
or perhaps, which is even more credible, there would be no 
kingdoms at all, since it is clear from the ancient histories that 
in the beginning these were founded by iniquity.” ?°° Here 
comes to the surface that combined current of Christian and 
Stoic thought which religious tradition was to carry forward 
from the days of the apostles to the days of Godwin and Shelley. 
The same thought lies behind John’s reiterated assertion that 
it is the function of the prince to reign and not to rules! 
—the true prince says, “I will not rule over you, but God shall 
rule over you” ; *** under a good prince, it is not the prince him- 
self who governs, but the law. 

In other words the existence of a complete code of intelligible 
laws of divine authority practically eliminates the necessity of 
government except as a purely ministerial instrumentality of 
enforcement ; and in so far as men are good they will obey with- 
out being forced. There need not be, there must not be, any 
subordination of one merely human “will” to another, for men 
can find agreement and harmony in their contacts only by being 
shaped or by shaping themselves to the passionless reason of the 
divine law. It is better that they should shape themselves than 
that they should be shaped by the power of government. At 
this point there enters John’s thought the concept of “liberty,” 
which is akin to the individualism underlying his doctrine of 
tyrannicide. 

“Liberty means judging everything freely in accordance with 
private judgment.” Nothing is more important, because liberty 
and virtue are interdependent. “Virtue can never be fully 
attained without liberty,” while on the other hand a man who 
is not virtuous, i.e. whose will does not faithfully follow the 


266 Bk. viii. c. 17, infra. 267 Bk, vili., c. 20, c. 22, infra. 
268 Bk, viii, c. 22, infra. 


Ixxx Introduction 


divine laws, can never be said to be truly free. The love of 
liberty therefore leads to the introduction of good laws because 
only with such laws is true liberty compatible. “It is the part 
of a wise man to give free rein to the liberty of others.” “But 
when under the pretext of liberty rashness unleashes the vio- 
lence of its spirit it properly incurs reproach.” ?° 

Here is another unmistakable vein of tradition—the tradi- 
tion which runs from St. John’s “The truth shall make you ~ 
free,” °° to Milton’s 


“They still revolt when truth would set them free,— 
License they mean when they cry liberty.” 


But of this doctrine of liberty, John of Salisbury makes almost 
no further use. The one inference that he draws from it is 
an earnest plea in favor of freedom of speech; for “what will 
be safe and secure if even the virtues, among which the spirit 
of liberty and independence holds a leading place, are to be 
punished?” And he cites the example of the Roman Satur- 
nalia to prove that “the law” itself recognized a right of free 
speech “in respect of utterances which are designed to serve 
the public advantage.’’ John’s thought seems to be that since 
all have at least potential access to knowledge of the “higher 
law,” the community is entitled to the benefits of the knowledge 
of all; and this requires that all should be allowed to speak 
their knowledge freely. 


SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 


It is the very inconsistencies in the political thought of the 
Policraticus and its blending of apparently incompatible elements 
which give it its principal value; for it discloses still in com- 
bination a number of separate strains of thought whose later 


269 Bk, vil, c. 25, infra. 270 John, viii. 32. 


Introduction Ixxxi 


dissociation was to form the main currents of Opposing doc- 
trine for many succeeding centuries. It presents the patriarchal 
theory of monarchy which in union with ideas derived from 
Renaissance Italy was to culminate in the seventeenth century 
conception of personal absolutism. It foreshadows the doctrine 
of the divine right of kings in its derivation of the ruler’s 
title directly from God. In its insistence on the superiority of 
spiritual over temporal rulers and on the primacy of the Apos- 
tolic See it contains the elements of the theory of universal papal 
supremacy. In its emphasis on a “higher law” supreme over 
all governments it has its place in the tradition leading up to 
Coke’s doctrine of judicial supremacy. In its insistence: ‘that 
men in so far as they are free from sin can live by the 
law alone and need no government, it anticipates the Christian 
communism of the more advanced Reformation Sects and 
modern doctrines of philosophic anarchism. The one outstand- 
ing current of thought of which absolutely no trace is present 
is that which was to prove ultimately the most fruitful of all 
—the thought, namely, that the community can organize itself 
for the accomplishment of its common purposes by developing 
institutions for pooling the ideas and harmonizing the ends of 
its members. 

It seems a futile question to ask which of these various 
strains of thought was dominant in the Policraticus or to seek 
some way of harmonizing their divergent tendencies. The 
very point for emphasis is that their diversities are the product 
of the distinctness which was to be given them by centuries of 
subsequent controversy. They were able to live together side 
by side in the Policraticus simply because they were not con- 
ceived with modern distinctness. Early thought, Maitland has 
said, is confused thought. “Simplicity is the outcome of tech- 
nical subtlety, it is the goal, not the starting point. As we go 
backward, the familiar outlines become blurred; the ideas be- 


Ixxxil Introduction 


come fluid, and instead of the simple we find the indefinite.” ®™ 
It is from this point of view that we must read the Policraticus. 
We must not ask exactly where John of Salisbury would have 
drawn the line between princely power and priestly supremacy; _ 
or between royal discretion and the “higher law.’’ The point — 
is that he draws no clear line. Every important idea is deeply 
tinged with much of what we conceive to be its opposite; and 
it carried much of this tinge with it into its later history. The — 
significance of the Policraticus for students of the political ideas 
of after times consists precisely in the fact that it discloses 
the more or less confused mass of contradictory ideas in which 
they were originally embedded, and which served to limit and 
correct them. 


271 “Domesday Book and Beyond,” p. 9. 


THE 


STATESMAN’S BOOK 


OF 


JOHN OF SALISBURY 


va 


Peri OF CHAPTERS 


THE FOURTH BOOK 


(AND HEREIN CHIEFLY OF THE PRINCE AND THE LAW ) 


I 


Il 


Vill 


Of the Difference between a Prince and a Tyrant, and of 
what is meant by a Prince 

What the Law is; and that although the Prince is not 
bound by the Law, he is nevertheless the Servant of 
the Law and of Equity, and bears the Public Person, 
and sheds Blood blamelessly 

That the Prince is the Minister of the Priests and in- 
ferior to them; and of what amounts to Faithful Per- 
formance of the Prince’s Ministry 

That it is established by Authority of the Divine Law 
that the Prince is subject to the Law and to Justice 

That the Prince should be chaste and avoid Avarice 

That he should have the Law of God ever before his 
Mind and Eyes, and should, be learned in Letters 

That he should be taught the Fear of God and should be 
humble, and so maintain his Humility that the Author- 
ity of the Prince may not be diminished; and that 
some Precepts are flexible, others inflexible 

That the Prince should effect a Reconciliation of Justice 
with Mercy, and should so temper and combine the two 
as to promote the Advantage of the Commonwealth 

What the Meaning is of inclining to the Right Hand, 
or the Left, which is forbidden to the Prince 

Of the Advantage which Princes may draw from the 
Practice of Justice 

Of another Reward of Princes 

For what Reasons the Kingship or Princely Power is 
transferred 


THE FIFTH BOOK 


32 


43 


45 
48 


57 


(AND HEREIN OF THE COMMONWEALTH AND ITS MEM- 
BERS, AND ESPECIALLY OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF 


I 


peo LICE) 


Plutarch’s Letter for the instruction of Trajan 
Ixxxv 


63 


Ixxxvl 


VI 


Vill 


XI 


Lbs 


XIII 


XIV 


lable of Chapiers 


What a Commonwealth is, according to Plutarch, and 
what fills therein the Place of Soul and Members 


What things are chiefly emphasized in Plutarch’s De- 
sign; and concerning the Reverence which is to be 
shown to God and to Sacred Things 


Of Reverence for Persons and Things; and in what ways 
a Person may be worthy of Reverence 


What Punishment is threatened against those who com- 
mit Injuries against Ministers of the Church and 
against Sacred Places; and that Absolution cannot be 
extorted by Force, nor purloined by Fraud 


Concerning the Prince, who is the Head of the Common- 
wealth, and of his Election and Privileges; and con- 
cerning the Recompense of Virtue and Guilt; and that 
Blessed Job should be imitated; and concerning the 
Virtues of Blessed Job ., 


What Mischiefs and Advantages befall Subjects from the 
Character of their Princes; which is supported by Ex- 
amples of Several Stratagems 


Why Trajan seems worthy of Preference before all 
Princes 


Concerning those who fill the Place of the Heart in the 
Commonwealth, and that Unjust Men are to be ex- 
cluded from the Counsels of Rulers; and of the Fear 
of God, and of Wisdom and Philosophy 


Of the Sides of Rulers, whose Necessities must be satis- 
fied and their Malice curbed 


Of the Eyes, Ears, and Tongue of Rulers; of the Office 
of Governor; and that a Judge should have Knowledge 
of the Law and of Equity, a Will disposed toward 
Good, and adequate Power of Enforcement, and that 
he should be bound by an Oath to keep the Laws and 
should be free from the Taint of receiving Gifts 


Of the Oath of Judges, with a comparison of Pitagoras 
and Alexander, and in what matters a Judge may 
show favor to the Parties before him; and concerning 
Sophistical Questions 


How a Law-suit should proceed, and of the Formula of 
the Oath against Malicious Litigation which the Plain- 
tiff and Defendant are required to take; and of the 
Consequences of refusing to take the Oath; and of the 
Oath of Advocates, and of the Punishment of False 
Prosecution, Concealment of the Truth, and Refusal 
to Proceed 


Concerning the Rationale of Proofs 


64 


67 


73 


80 


83 


94 


104 


108 


114 


123 


129 


1306 
140 


XV 


XVI 


XVII 


Table of Chapters Ixxxvii 


What things pertain to the Duty of Proconsuls, Govern- 
ors, and Ordinary Judges; and how far Presents may 
be offered and accepted; and concerning Cicero, Ber- 
nard, Martin and Gaufred of Chartres 


Of the Crime of Extortion, of which Governors and 
Judges are Guilty who accept anything for doing what 
it is the Duty of their Office to do; and of Samuel, who 
teaches that there should be Continual Sacrifice in the 
House of a Judge, which should show itself to be a 
Temple of God by Offerings of Justice and Good 
Works 


That Money is to be Despised in comparison with Wis- 
dom; which is proved by the Examples of the Ancient 
Philosophers 


THE SIXTH BOOK 


143 


148 


157 


(AND HEREIN OF THE ARMED HAND OF THE COMMON- 
WEALTH, AND OF THE MUTUAL COHESION OF HEAD 


Prologue 
I 


FL 


IV 


IX 


AND MEMBERS) 


That the Hand of the Commonwealth is either armed or 
unarmed, and of the Hand which is unarmed, and its 
Function 

That Military Service requires Selection, Science, and 
Training 

Of Braggart Soldiers who are of no use for Service 


What kind of Knowledge and Training Soldiers should 
have, and that they should not be permitted to be 
idle; and concerning Augustus, who caused his Daugh- 
ters to be taught Wool-making 

That there are two Chief Things which make a Soldier, 
to wit, Selection and the Soldier’s Oath 


Of the Ills which come upon our Countrymen from Neg- 
ligent Choice of Soldiers and how Harold subdued the 
Welsh 

What is the Formula of the Soldier’s Oath and that, 
without it, a Man may not be a soldier 


That the Soldiery of Arms is necessarily bound to Re- 
ligion like that which is consecrated to Membership in 
the Clergy and the Service of God ; and that the Name 
of Soldier is one of Honor and Toil 


That the Faith which is owed to God is to be preferred 


before any Man, nor can Man be served unless God is 
served 


171 
173 


180 
184 


186 


190 


193 


196 


198 


201 


Ixxxvill 


Xx 
XI 


XII 


BORE! 


XXI 


XXII 


XXIII 


XXIV 


Table of Chapters 


Of the Privileges of Soldiers, and that they are bound 
to the Church by their Oath, and why the Sword is 
offered upon the Altar 

That Soldiers are to be Punished with Severity if, in 
Contempt of Military Law, they abuse their Privileges 


That there are Various Kinds of Punishment for those 
who disobey their Commander and how far Obedience 
is due; and in Respect of what Commands Military 
Jurisdiction is competent and where not 


Why Soldiers are deprived of their Belt, and that a 
Soldier who has been dishonorably discharged holds no 
Commerce with Sword or Spear; and why the Sword is 
inserted in the Belt 

That Military Discipline is of the Greatest Use, and of 
what chiefly destroys Military Strength 

That the Romans were strong beyond all other Nations 
in point of Discipline, and that among them Julius 
Cesar prospered beyond all others 

What Mischiefs happen to our Countrymen from Lack 
of Discipline 

That we have Examples of Valor given us by our 
Countrymen, and of the Cities which Brennus founded 
in Italy according to the Ancient Histories 


Instances from Recent History; and of how King Henry 
the Second calmed the Tempests and Hurricanes of 
King Stephen’s Time and brought Peace to the Island 

Of the Honor to be shown to Soldiers, and of the Mod- 
esty to be enjoined upon them; and of those who have 
handed down the Art of War, and of certain of their 
General Precepts 

Of those who are the Feet of the Commonwealth, and of 
the Care which should be bestowed thereon 


That the Commonwealth should be ordered to the Pat-: 


tern of Nature, and that its Arrangement should be 
borrowed from the Bees 

That without Prudence and Watchfulness no Magistrate 
can remain in Safety and Vigor, and that a Common- 
wealth does not flourish whose Head is enfeebled 


That Levity or Rash Carelessness is to be avoided in 
Speaking and Hearing; and that Pleasure ends in Re- 
pentance 


That the Vices of Rulers are to be endured because they 
embody the Hope of the Public Well-being, and be- 
cause they are charged with the Disposal of the Means 
of Public Health, even as the Stomach in the Body 
Natural dispenses Nourishment; and this on the Au- 
thority of Dom Adrian 


203 


205 


209 


216 


220 


224 


226 


229 


232 


238 


243 


245 


246 


249 


257 


XXV 


XXVI 


XXVII 


XXVIII 
XXIX 


Table of Chapters ibore-eb.< 


Of the Cohesion and, Mutual Dependence of the Head 
and Members of the Commonwealth; and that the 
Prince is as it were the Likeness of Deity; and of the 
brine of Lése Majesté, and of the Obligations of Fe- 
alty 

That Faults are to be either Tolerated or Removed, and 
that they are to be Distinguished from Flagrant out- 
rages: and Certain General Observations concerning the 
Office of a Prince: and a Brief Epilogue as to how 
great is the Reverence to be shown to him 


That the Tribe of Gnato ruin all things nor suffer the 
Truth to be spoken: and that their Skins should be 
stripped from them as was done to Marsias, if Rich 
Men would be wise: and that God Himself punishes 
the Persecutors of the Poor 

On the Authority of the Socrates as to when a Man is 
commended deservedly and when Praise is Counterfeit 

That the People is shaped to the measure of the Prince’s 
Deserts and that the Prince’s Government is shaped to 
the Measure of the People’s Deserts: and that when 


God is well pleased every Creature is tamed and serves 
Man 


SELECTIONS FROM 
THE SEVENTH BOOK 


258 


264 


268 


ary 


276 


(CHAPTERS DEALING CHIEFLY WITH AMBITION AND 


XVII 


XVIII 


XIX 


XxX 


XXI 
XXV 


THE WILES OF THE AMBITION) 


Of Ambition; and that Cupidity is the Companion of 
Folly; and of the Origin of Tyranny; and of the Di- 
verse Ways of the Ambitions 

That the Ambitious dissimulate their Great Desire, and 
of the Excuses wherewith they veil their Real Objec- 
tive 

Of those who push themselves forward without veiling 
their Impudence or Dissembling their Ambition and 
who can be held back neither by Reason nor Authority 

Of the Laws of Secular Princes whereby Courtiers and 
Officials are excluded from Ecclesiastical Honors; and 
by what Examples the Dathanites and Abironites strive 
to prevail 

Of Hypocrites who seek to hide the Stain of Ambition 
under a False Pretense of Religion 

Of the Love and Pursuit of Liberty; and of those of 
Old Time who patiently bore with Free Speaking; and 
of the Difference between a Gibe and a Taunt 


281 


288 


292 


302 


312 


323 


xe Table of Chapters 


SELECTIONS FROM | 
THE EIGHTH BOOK 


(CHAPTERS ON TYRANNY AND TYRANNICIDE) 


XVII Wherein consists the Difference between a Tyrant and a 
True Prince; and of the Tyranny of Priests; and 
wherein a Shepherd, a Thief, and a Hireling differ 
from one another 335 


XVIII That Tyrants are the Ministers of God; and of what a 
Tyrant is; and concerning the Characters of Gaius 
Caligula and Nero his Nephew, and of the Death of 
each of them 350 


XIX Of the Death of Julius Cesar and other Gentile Tyrants 358 


XX That by the Authority of the Divine Page it is a Lawful 
and Glorious Thing to slay Public Tyrants, provided 
the Slayer is not bound by Fealty to the Tyrant or does 
not for some other Reason sacrifice Justice and Honor 
thereby 367 

XXI That all Tyrants come to a Bad End; and that God will 
punish them if the Hand of Man is wanting, and that 
this is shown in the case of Julian the Apostate and 
many examples from the Sacred Scriptures 325 

XXII Of Gedeon, the Pattern of Rulers; and of Antiochus 304 


XXIII That the advice of Brutus is to be employed against those 
who not merely Contend but schismatically Fight for 
the Supreme Pontificate; and that for Tyrants there is 
no Peace 398 


Here Begins 
fPerorouURTH BOOK 


eee EREIN CHIEFLY OF THE 
PRINCE AND THE LAW) 


Ponee b aR: *] 


OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PRINCE AND A TYRANT AND 
OF WHAT IS MEANT BY A PRINCE. 


Between a tyrant and a prince there is this single or chief dif- 
_ ference, that the latter obeys the law and rules the people by 
its dictates, accounting himself as but their servant. It is by 
virtue of the law that he makes good his claim to the foremost 
and chief place in the management of the affairs of the common- 
wealth and in the bearing of its burdens; and his elevation 
over others consists in this, that whereas private men are held 
responsible only for their private affairs, on the prince fall the 
burdens of the whole community. Wherefore deservedly there 
is conferred on him, and gathered together in his hands, the 
power of all his subjects, to the end that he may be sufficient 
unto himself in seeking and bringing about the advantage of 
each individually, and of all; and to the end that the state 
of the human commonwealth may be ordered in the best possible 
manner, seeing that each and all are members one of another. 
Wherein we indeed but follow nature, the best guide of life; 
for nature has gathered together all the senses of her microcosm 
or little world, which is man, into the head, and has subjected 
all the members in obedience to it in such wise that they will 
all function properly so long as they follow the guidance of the 
head, and the head remains sane. Therefore the prince stands 
on a pinnacle which is exalted and made splendid with all the 
great and high privileges which he deems necessary for him- 
self. And rightly so, because nothing is more advantageous to 
the people than that the needs of the prince should be fully 
3 


4 John of Salisbury 


satisfied; since it is impossible that his will should be found 
opposed to justice. Therefore, according to the usual defini- 
tion, the prince is the public power, and a kind of likeness on 
earth of the divine majesty. Beyond doubt a large share of the 
divine power is shown to be in princes by the fact that at their 
nod men bow their necks and for the most part offer up their 
heads to the axe to be struck off, and, as by a divine impulse, the 
prince is feared by each of those over whom he is set as an 
object of fear. And this I do not think could be, except as a 
result of the will of God. For all power is from the Lord 
God, and has been with Him always, and is from everlasting. 
The power which the prince has is therefore from God, for 
the power of God is never lost, nor severed from Him, but He 
merely exercises it through a subordinate hand, making all 
things teach His mercy or justice. “Who, therefore, resists the 
ruling power, resists the ordinance of God,’ * in whose hand is 
the authority of conferring that power, and when He so de- 
sires, of withdrawing it again, or diminishing it. For it is not 
the ruler’s own act when his will is turned to cruelty against 
his subjects, but it is rather the dispensation of God for His 
good pleasure to punish or chasten them. Thus during the 
Hunnish persecution, Attila, on being asked by the reverend 
bishop of a certain city who he was, replied, “I am Attila, the 
scourge of God.” Whereupon it is written that the bishop 
adored him as representing the divine majesty. “Welcome,” 
he said, “is the minister of God,” and “Blessed is he that cometh 
in the name of the Lord,” and with sighs and groans he un- 
fastened the barred doors of the church, and admitted the 
persecutor through whom he attained straightway to the™palm 
of martyrdom. For he dared not shut out the scourge of God, 
knowing that His beloved Son was scourged, and that the power — 
of this scourge which had come upon himself was as nought — 
except it came from God. If good men thus regard power as 


1Rom., xiii. 2. 


paeeeerhativcus [Yor 5 


_ worthy of veneration even when it comes as a plague upon the 

: elect, who should not venerate that power which is instituted 

by God for the punishment of evil-doers and for the reward 
of good men, and which is promptest in devotion and obedience 
to the laws? To quote the words of the Emperor, “it is in- 
deed a saying worthy of the majesty of royalty that the prince 
acknowledges himself bound by the Laws.” 2 For the author- 
ity of the prince depends upon the authority of justice and law; 
and truly it is a greater thing than imperial power for the prince 
to place his government under the laws, so as to deem himself 
entitled to do nought which is at variance with the equity of 
justice. 


Susan, Cod. 1., 14, § 4. 


CHAP T bike 


WHAT THE LAW IS; AND THAT ALTHOUGH THE PRINCE IS 
NOT BOUND BY THE LAW, HE IS NEVERTHELESS THE 
SERVANT OF THE LAW AND OF EQUITY, AND BEARS THE 
PUBLIC PERSON, AND SHEDS BLOOD BLAMELESSLY. 


Princes should not deem that it detracts from their princely 
dignity to believe that the enactments of their own justice are 
not to be preferred to the justice of God, whose justice is an 
everlasting justice, and His law is equity. Now equity, as the 
learned jurists define it, is a certain fitness of things which 
compares all things rationally, and seeks to apply like rules of 
right and wrong to like cases, being impartially disposed to- 
ward all persons, and allotting to each that which belongs to 
him. Of this equity the interpreter is the law, to which the 
will and intention of equity and justice are known. Therefore 
Crisippus asserted that the power of the law extends over all 
things, both divine and human, and that it accordingly presides 
over all goods and ills, and is the ruler and guide of material 
things as well as of human beings. To which Papinian, a man 
most learned in the law, and Demosthenes, the great orator, 
seem to assent, subjecting all men to its obedience because all 
law is, as it were, a discovery, and a gift from God, a precept 
of wise men, the corrector of excesses of the will, the bond 


1 Webb (vol. L., p. 237) cites this definition from Azo without specific 
reference and suggests a comparison with Cic., Top., 4, § 23. But the 


? 
4 


same definition is found in an ancient introduction to the Institutes — 


(Fitting, “Juristische Schriften des friiheren Mittelalters”) which Fitting 
ascribes to a date prior to the rise of the Bolognese law-school and re- 
gards as representing earlier Byzantine tradition, op, cit., p. 146; for 
date, ibid., p. 98. ; 


Poitcraticus IV 2 e 


which knits together the fabric of the state, and the banisher 
of crime;? and it is therefore fitting that all men should live 
according to it who lead their lives in a corporate political 
body. All are accordingly bound by the necessity of keeping 
the law, unless perchance there is any who can be thought to 
have been given the license of wrong-doing. However, it is 
said that the prince is absolved from the obligations of the law; 
but this is not true in the sense that it is lawful for him to do un- 
just acts, but only in the sense that his character should be such 
as to cause him to practice equity not through fear of the pen- 
alties of the law but through love of justice; and should also 
be such as to cause him from the same motive to promote the 
advantage of the commonwealth, and in all things to prefer the 
good of others before his own private will. Who, indeed, in 
respect of public matters can properly speak of the will of the 
prince at all, since therein he may not lawfully have any will 
of his own apart from that which the law or equity enjoins, or 
the calculation of the common interest requires? For in these 
matters his will is to have the force of a judgment; and most 
properly that which pleases him therein has the force of law, 
because his decision may not be at variance with the intention 
of equity. “From thy countenance,” says the Lord, “let my 
_ judgment go forth, let thine eyes look upon equity’’;? for the 
uncorrupted judge is one whose decision, from assiduous con- 
templation of equity, is the very likeness thereof. The prince 
accordingly is the minister of the common interest and the 
bond-servant of equity, and he bears the public person in the 
sense that he punishes the wrongs and injuries of all, and all 
crimes, with even-handed equity. His rod and staff also, ad- 
ministered with wise moderation, restore irregularities and 
false departures to the straight path of equity, so that de- 
servedly may the Spirit congratulate the power of the prince 


Pie 1, 3, §§ 1-2, §Ps,, xvii, 2. 


8 John of Salts0ury 


with the words, “Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted 
me.’ * His shield, too, is strong, but it isa Shichieioreiie 
protection of the weak, and one which wards off powerfully 
the darts of the wicked from the innocent. Those who derive 
the greatest advantage from his performance of the duties 
of his office are those who can do least for themselves, and his 
power is chiefly exercised against those who desire to do harm. 


Therefore not without reason he bears a sword, wherewith he 


sheds blood blamelessly, without becoming thereby a man of 
blood, and frequently puts men to death without incurring the 
name or guilt of homicide. For if we believe the great Au- 
gustine, David was called a man of blood not because of his 
wars, but because of Uria. And Samuel is nowhere described 
as a man of blood or a homicide, although he slew Agag, the 
fat king of Amalech. Truly the sword of princely power is 
as the sword of a dove, which contends without gall, smites 
without wrath, and when it fights, yet conceives no bitterness 
at all. For as the law pursues guilt without any hatred of per- 
sons, so the prince most justly punishes offenders from no mo- 
tive of wrath but at the behest, and in accordance with the 
decision, of the passionless law. For although we see that the 
prince has lictors of his own, we must yet think of him as 
in reality himself the sole or chief lictor, to whom is granted 
by the law the privilege of striking by a subordinate hand. If 
we adopt the opinion of the Stoics, who diligently trace down 
the reason for particular words, “lictor” means “legis ictor,” 
or “hammer of the law,” because the duty of his office is to 
strike those who the law adjudges shall be struck. Wherefore 
anciently, when the sword hung over the head of the convicted 
criminal, the command was wont to be given to the officials 
by whose hand the judge punishes evil-doers, “Execute the 
sentence of the law,” or “Obey the law,” to the end that the 
misery of the victim might be mitigated by the calm reason- 
ableness of the words. 


4Ps. xxiii, 4. 


Pee Pa eR LIT 


THAT THE PRINCE IS THE MINISTER OF THE PRIESTS AND. 
INFERIOR TO THEM ; AND OF WHAT AMOUNTS TO FAITHFUL 
PERFORMANCE OF THE PRINCE’S MINISTRY. 


This sword, then, the prince receives from the hand of the 
Church, although she herself has no sword-of blood at all. 
Nevertheless she has this sword, but she uses it by the hand 
of the prince, upon whom she confers the power of bodily 
coercion, retaining to herself authority over spiritual things 
in the person of the pontiffs. The prince is, then, as it were, 
a minister of the priestly power, and one who exercises that 
side of the sacred offices which seems unworthy of the hands 
of the priesthood. For every office existing under, and con- 
cerned with the execution of, the sacred laws is really a religious 
office, but that is inferior which consists in punishing crimes, and 
which therefore seems to be typified in the person of the hang- 
man. Wherefore Constantine, most faithful emperor of the 
Romans, when he had convoked the council of priests at Nicaea, 
neither dared to take the chief place for himself nor even to 
sit among the presbyters, but chose the hindmost seat. More- 
over, the decrees which he heard approved by them he reverenced 
as if he had seen them emanate from the judgment-seat of 
the divine majesty. Even the rolls of petitions containing 
accusations against priests which they brought to him in a steady 
stream he took and placed in his bosom without opening them. 
And after recalling them to charity and harmony, he said that 
it was not permissible for him, as a man, and one who was sub- 
ject to the judgment of priests, to examine cases touching gods, 

9 


10 John of Salisbury 


who cannot be judged save by God alone.- And the petitions 
which he had received he put into the fire without even look- 
ing at them, fearing to give publicity to accusations and cen- 
sures against the fathers, and thereby incur the curse of Cham, 
the undutiful son, who did not hide his father’s shame. Where- 
fore he said, as is narrated in the writings of Nicholas the 
Roman pontiff, “Verily if with mine own eyes I had seen a_ 
priest of God, or any of those who wear the monastic garb, sin- 
ning, I would spread my cloak and hide him, that he might 
not be seen of any.” Also Theodosius, the great emperor, for 
a merited fault, though not so grave a one, was suspended by 
the priest of Milan from the exercise of his regal powers and 
from the insignia of his imperial office, and patiently and sol- 
emnly he performed the penance for homicide which was laid 
upon him. Again, according to the testimony of the teacher 
of the gentiles, greater is he who blesses man than he who is 
blessed; + and so he in whose hands is the authority to confer 
a dignity excels in honor and the privileges of honor him upon 
whom the dignity itself is conferred. Further, by the reason- 
ing of the law it is his right to refuse who has the power to 
grant, and he who can lawfully bestow can lawfully take away.” 
Did not Samuel pass sentence of deposition against Saul by 


reason of his disobedience, and supersede him on the pinnacle | 


of kingly rule with the lowly son of Ysai?* But if one who 
has been appointed prince has performed duly and faithfully the 
ministry which he has undertaken, as great honor and reverence i 
are to be shown to him as the head excels in honor all the 
members of the body. Now he performs his ministry faith- 
fully when he is mindful of his true status, and remembers ; 
that he bears the person of the wniversitas of those subject — 
to him; and when he is fully conscious that he owes his life — 
not to himself and his own private ends, but to others, and — 


1 Heb. vii, 7. 2 Dig., 1. 1%, ees Si, e, Jesse. 


foes raticus IV 3 Ii 


allots it to them accordingly, with duly ordered charity and 
affection. Therefore he owes the whole of himself to God, 
most of himself to his country, much to his relatives and 
friends, very little to foreigners, but still somewhat. He has 
duties to the very wise and the very foolish, to little children 
and to the aged. Supervision over these classes of persons is 
common to all in authority, both those who have care over spir- 
itual things and those who exercise temporal jurisdiction. 
Wherefore Melchisedech, the earliest whom the Scripture in- 
troduces as both king and priest (to say nought at present con- 
cerning the mystery wherein he prefigures Christ, who was born 
in heaven without a mother and on earth without a father) ; 
of him, I say, we read that he had neither father nor mother, 

not because he was in fact without either, but because in the 
eyes of reason the kingly power and the priestly power are 
not born of flesh and blood, since in bestowing either, regard 
for ancestry ought not to prevail over merits and virtues, 
but only the wholesome wishes* of faithful subjects should 
prevail; and when anyone has ascended to the supreme 
exercise of either power, he ought wholly to forget the af- 
fections of flesh and blood, and do only that which is demanded 
by the safety and welfare of his subjects. And so let him 
be both father and husband to his subjects, or, if he has known 
some affection more tender still, let him employ that; let him 
desire to be loved rather than feared, and show himself to them 
as such a man that they will out of devotion prefer his life 
to their own, and regard his preservation and safety as a kind 
of public life; and then all things will prosper well for him, 
-and a small bodyguard will, in case of need, prevail by their 
loyalty against innumerable adversaries. For love is strong 
as death; and the wedge’ which is held together by strands of 
love is not easily broken. 


4 Vota. Si.e, a military formation, 


12 John of Salisbury 


When the Dorians were about to fight against the Athenians 
they consulted the oracles regarding the outcome of the battle. 
The reply was that they would be victorious if they did not 
kill the king of the Athenians. When they went to war their 
soldiers were therefore enjoined above all else to care for 
the safety of the king. At that time the king of the Athenians 


was Codrus, who, learning of the response of the god and the — 


precautions of the enemy, laid aside his royal garb and entered 
the camp of the enemy bearing faggots on his back. Men tried 
to bar his way and a disturbance arose in the course of which 
he was killed by a soldier whom he had struck with his pruning- 
hook. When the king’s body was recognized, the Dorians re- 
turned home without fighting a battle. Thus the Athenians 
were delivered from the war by the valor of their leader, who 
offered himself up to death for the safety of his country. 
Likewise Ligurgus in his reign established decrees which con- 
firmed the people in obedience to their princes, and the princes 
in just principles of government; he abolished the use of gold 
and silver, which are the material of all wickedness, he gave 
to the senate guardianship over the laws and to the people the 
power of recruiting the senate; he decreed that virgins should 
be given in marriage without a dowry to the end that men 
might make choice of wives and not of money; he desired 
the greatest honor to be bestowed upon old men in proportion 
to their age; and verily nowhere else on earth does old age 
enjoy a more honored station. Then, in order to give perpetu- 
ity to his laws, he bound the city by an oath to change nothing 


of his laws until he should return again. He thereupon set | 


out for Crete and lived there in perpetual exile; and when he 
died, he ordered his bones to be thrown into the sea for fear 
that if they should be taken back to Lacedaemon, they might 
regard themselves as absolved from the obligation of their 
oath in the matter of changing the laws. 

These examples I employ the more willingly because I find 


ee ee ee 


Peuperaticus 1V > 3 13 


that the Apostle Paul also used them in preaching to the Athe- 
nians. That excellent preacher sought to win entrance for 
Jesus Christ and Him crucified into their minds by showing 
from the example of many gentiles that deliverance had come 
through the ignominy of a cross. And he argued that this was 
not wont to happen save by the blood of just men and of those 
who bear the magistracy of a people. Carrying forward this 
line of thought, there could be found none sufficient to deliver 
all nations, to wit both Jews and gentiles, save One to whom 
all nations were given for His inheritance, and all the earth 
foreordained to be His possession. But this, he asserted, could 
be none other than the Son of the all-powerful Father, since 
none except God holds sway over all nations and all lands. 
While he preached in this manner the ignominy of the cross 
to the end that the folly of the gentiles might gradually be re- 
moved, he little by little bore upward the word of faith and 
the tongue of his preaching till it rose to the word of God, 
and God’s wisdom, and finally to the very throne of the divine 
majesty, and then, lest the virtue of the gospel, because it has 
revealed itself under the infirmity of the flesh, might be held 
cheap by the obstinacy of the Jews and the folly of the gen- 
tiles, he explained to them the works of the Crucified One, which 
were further confirmed by the testimony of fame; since it was 
agreed among all that they could be done by none save God. 
But since fame frequently speaks untruth on opposite sides, 
fame itself was confirmed by the fact that His disciples were 
doing marvellous works; for at the shadow of a disciple those 
who were sick of any infirmity were healed. Why should I 
continue? The subtlety of Aristotle, the refinements of Crisip- 
pus, the snares of all the philosophers He confuted by rising 
from the dead. 

How the Decii, Roman generals, devoted themselves to 
death for their armies, is a celebrated tale. Julius Cczesar 
also said, “A general who does not labor to be dear to his sol- 


14 John of Salisbury 


diers’ hearts does not know how to furnish them with weapons ; 
does not know that a general’s humaneness to his troops takes 
the place of a host against the enemy.” He never said to his 
soldiers, “Go thither,” but always “Follow me”; he said this 


because toil which is shared by the leader always seems to — 


the soldier to be less hard. We have also his authority for the 


opinion that bodily pleasure is to be avoided; for he said that 


if in war men’s bodies are wounded with swords, in peace 
they are no less wounded with pleasures. He had perceived, 
conqueror of nations as he was, that pleasure cannot in any 
way be so easily conquered as by avoiding it, since he himself 
who had subdued many nations had been snared in the toils of 
Venus by a shameless woman. 


— -— Ss oe are 


' 
1 
; 


eigen Poli Re TV 


THAT IT IS ESTABLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE DIVINE LAW 
THAT THE PRINCE IS SUBJECT TO THE LAW AND TO JUSTICE. 


But why do I thus resort to begging instances from the 
history of the gentiles, although they are at hand in countless 
numbers, seeing that men can be moved to deeds more directly 
by laws than by examples? That you may not, then, be of 
opinion that the prince is wholly absolved from the laws, hear 
the law which is enjoined upon princes by the Great King who 
is terrible over all the earth and who takes away the breath 
of princes:+ “When thou art come,” He says, “into the land 
which the Lord thy God shall give to thee, and shalt possess 
it and shalt dwell therein and shalt say, ‘I will set over me a 
king such as all the nations that are round about me have over 
them’; thou shalt appoint him king over thee whom the Lord 
thy God shall choose from the number of thy brethren. Thou 
mayst not set over thee for thy king a man of another nation, 
who is not thy brother. And when he is made thy king, he 
shall not multiply the number of his horses, nor lead back 
the people into Egypt, made proud by the number of his horse- 
men; for the Lord hath enjoined upon thee that no more shalt 
thou return by that way. He shall not have many wives to 
turn away his heart, nor a great weight of silver and gold. 
And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom 
that he shall write him a copy of this law of the Deuteronomy 
in a book, taken from the copy which is in the hands of the 
priests of the tribe of Levi, and he shall keep it with him and 

1 Deut. xvii, 14 ff. 

15 


Oe John of Salisbury 


read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear 
the Lord his God and to keep His words and the rites of His 
worship which are prescribed in the law. And his heart shall 
not be lifted up in pride above his brethren, nor incline to the 
right hand nor to the left, to the end that his reign and his 
son’s reign may be long over Israel.” Need I ask whether one 
whom this law binds is restrained by no law? Surely this law - 
is divine and cannot be broken with impunity. Every word 
thereof is a thunderclap in the ears of princes if they would 
be wise. I say nought concerning election, and the form thereof 
which is prescribed for the creation of a prince; rather attend 
with me for a little to the rule or formula of living which is 
enjoined upon him. 

When there has been appointed, it is written, a man who 
professes himself a brother of the whole people in the practice 
of religion and in affection and charity, he shall not multiply 
unto himself horses, by the number whereof he may become a 
burden unto his subjects. For to multiply horses is to collect, 
from vainglory or some other error, more than need requires. | 
Now “much” and “little,” if we follow the prince of the Peripa- 
tetics, signify diminution or excess of the legitimate quantity 
of specific kinds of things. Will it then be lawful to multiply 
dogs, or rapacious birds, or fierce beasts, or any other monsters 
of nature, when even the number of horses, which are a military 
necessity and serve all the useful purposes of life, is thus strictly 
limited in advance to a lawful quantity? Concerning actors 
and mimes, buffoons and harlots, panders and other like hu- 
man monsters, which the prince ought rather to exterminate — 
entirely than to foster, there needed no mention to be made in 
the law; which indeed not only excludes all such abominations 
from the court of the prince, but totally banishes them from 
among the people of God. Under the name of horses is to be 
understood all things needful for the use of a household, and 
all its necessary equipment; of which a legitimate quantity is — 


Pealicraticus IV 4 1y, 


that which necessity or utility reasonably requires, understand- 
ing, however, that the useful is identified with the honorable, and 
that the refined comfort of living is limited to honorable things. 
For philosophers have long ago agreed that no opinion is more 
pernicious than the opinion of those who distinguish the use- 
ful from the honorable; and that the truest and most useful 
view is that the honorable and the useful are convertible terms.? 
Plato, as is told in the histories of the gentiles, when he saw 
Dionisius the tyrant of Sicily surrounded by his bodyguards, 
asked him, “What harm have you done that you should need 
to have so many guards?” This in no wise behooves a prince 
who by the faithful performance of his duties so wins for him- 
self the affection of all that for his sake every subject will 
expose his own head to imminent dangers in the same manner 
that by the promptings of nature the members of the body 
are wont to expose themselves for the protection of the head. 
And skin for skin, and all that a man has, he will put forward 
for the protection of his life. 

The next commandment is, “He shall not lead back the peo- 
ple into Egypt, made proud by the number of his horsemen.” 
‘Truly every precaution must be taken, and great diligence used, 
by all who are set in high place not to corrupt their inferiors 
by their example,* nor by their abuse of things, nor by following 
the way of pride and luxury to lead back the people into the 
darkness of confusion. For it often comes to pass that sub- . 
jects imitate the vices of their superiors, because the people 
desire to be like their magistrates, and everyone will eagerly 
follow the appetites which he observes in another who occupies 
a distinguished station. There is a celebrated passage of the 
excellent versifier setting forth the opinion and words of the 
great Theodosius : 

® Cicero, De Officis, iii., 3, § 11. 

8 Cf. Jonas of Orleans, De Inst. Reg., c. 3 (D’Achéry, Spicilegium, 
MOlL, DP. 324). 


18 John of Salts oa 


“Tf thou dost bid and decree that aught is to be commonly observed, 

First obey thy decree thyself; then the people will be more observ- 
ant of that which is just 

And not refuse to bear it when they see the author thereof himself , — 

Obey his own command. The world is shaped 

To the model of its king, nor are edicts as effective 

To influence the feelings of men as is the ruler’s way of life. 

The fickle people changes ever with its prince.” 4 


But the means of single individuals are of course never so 
great as the resources of the whole body. ‘The individual draws 
from his own coffers, the ruling power drains the public chest 
or exhausts the treasury; and when this finally fails, then he 
has recourse to the means of private individuals. But private 
persons must be content with their own. And when this is ex- 
hausted, he who but now thirsted after the splendor of the rich 
and powerful, falls into poverty and disgrace, and blushes at 
the blackness of his confusion. Therefore by the decree of 
the Lacedemonians, a frugal use of the public funds was en- 
joined upon their rulers, although they were permitted to use 
according to the common laws their own inherited property 
and what they chanced to obtain by good fortune. 

4Claud., IV. Consul. Hon., 296-302. This passage is quoted in the : 


same connection by George Buchanan, “De Jure Regni apud Scotos,” — 
CoexKX VIL: 


eer RV 
THAT THE PRINCE SHOULD BE CHASTE AND AVOID AVARICE. 


The law adds: “He shall not have many wives to turn away 
his heart.” It was at one time permitted among the people of 
God that for the sake of propagating the race and increasing 
the number of the chosen people, each man might have several 
wives. The patriarchs come to mind as an example of this 
privilege, as when Sara used her right, to wit to the body of 
Abraham, in the womb of another, receiving from her hus- 
band a son Ismael through the service of her handmaiden. 
Jacob also, after a double marriage with two sisters, took unto 
himself their fertile handmaidens. And yet kings are now 
bound by the restraint of a perpetual prohibition, and are for- 
bidden the embraces of several wives; and though in the case 
of other men it may have been lawful for several women to 
be the wife of one man, yet in the case of kings the rule al- 
ways prevails of one wife for one husband. Shall it be law- 
ful for him to fornicate or commit adultery or defilement with 
several when not even for the sake of multiplying the race or 
begetting an heir may he have to do with more than one wife? 
How shall the ruling power punish immorality and adultery 
or fornication in others if he is guilty of the same crimes?! 
Let no one bring forward the example of David by way of 
objection, who perchance in this as in so many other respects, 
enjoyed a special privilege; though for myself I should readily 
allow that herein he, too, sinned. Clearly his weakness for 

1Cf. Hincmar of Rheims, De Ordine Palatii, c. vi.: “Qualiter alios 


corrigere poterit qui proprios mores ne iniqui sint non corrigit?” 
19 


20 John of Salisbury 


women drew him into adultery by the way of treachery and 
homicide, nor will I labor to excuse a man who, when accused 
and condemned by the word of the prophet, confessed out of 
his own mouth that he was a man of death. You have the 


case of one king sinning like other kings; and would that they — 


would repent as he repented, and confess their fault even as 


he confessed, and, making satisfaction as he did, return again a 


into the way of life! Even the wisdom of Salomon was in- 
fatuated with the love of women. 

The next commandment is that he shall not have a great 
weight of silver and gold. Let them go to, and, against the 
commandment of God, heap up for themselves a treasure of 
silver and gold, seeking gain from falsehood; and let them 
wring abundance from the poverty of others, riches from rapine, 
and found their own private prosperity on the calamity of 
many. But someone brings forward the wealth of Salomon 
as an objection. Granted; I do not say that the prince should 
not be wealthy, but that he should not be avaricious. Were ~ 
not gold and silver cheap in the time of Salomon? They 
would not have been by any means so cheap if an immense | 
mass of them, exceeding use, had been hoarded up for himself 
by a covetous king. By burying them in the ground, he could 
have effectually withdrawn them from use to the end that they — 
might become dearer. In Petronius, Trimalchio tells a story 
of a craftsman who made vases of glass of such hardness that 
they could not be broken more easily than if of gold or silver. — 
When he had once made a vessel of this kind of the purest — 
glass, and worthy, as he thought, of Czsar alone, he went to 
Cesar with his gift, and was admitted. The beauty of the 
present was praised, the skill of the artificer was commended, — 
and the devotion of the giver was accepted. But the crafts- — 
man, to turn the admiration of the onlookers into wonder, and — 
to win for himself in fuller measure, as he expected, the favor of | 
the emperor, asked Czesar to hand him the vessel, and taking it, - 


feorecraticus IV 5 21 


hurled it violently to the pavement with such force that the 
most solid and hardest substance of bronze would not have re- 
mained unbroken. At this Cesar was not more astounded than 
terrified. But the craftsman picked up the vessel from the 
ground, and it was not broken, but only dented, as if the appear- 
ance of glass had but covered the substance of bronze. Then, 
taking his little hammer from his bosom, he mended the fault 
skilfully and neatly, and, like a dented vase of bronze, repaired 
it with repeated blows. When he had completed this, he thought 
that he had Jupiter’s own heaven in his grasp, because he sup- 
posed that he had merited the friendship of Cesar and the ad- 
miration of all. But it fell out quite otherwise. For Czesar in- 
quired whether any other knew this composition of glass ves- 
sels. When he replied in the negative, the emperor ordered him 
to be beheaded at once, saying that if this process should come 
into common knowledge gold and silver would become as cheap 
as mud. Whether the story is true or not is doubtful, and there 
are diverse opinions regarding the act of Cesar. But I for my 
part, without presuming to pass judgment on the view of wiser 
men, consider that the devotion of a most able craftsman was 
ill requited, and that it is a barren prospect for the human race 
when an excellent art is wiped out in order that money and the 
material of money, which is the fuel of avarice, the food of 
death, and the cause of battles and quarrels, may be held in high 
value, which it would have in any event without effort on the 
part of the man, since without value there could be no money, 
which is but the measure of value.” 


“Price is the thing now prized; it is a man’s census-rating which 
brings him honors, 

Which brings him friends; the poor man is everywhere trampled 
on.’ ? 


2 This is Webb’s interpretation. 8 Ov., Fasti, i, 217-218. 


oe John of Saltsbury 


To far better advantage have certain peoples sought to banish 
utterly from their public business this subject-matter of disputes 
and litigation, this cause of hatred, to the end that the cause 
being removed the resulting ill-will and its consequences might 
disappear; such is the enactment of Ligurgus among the 
Lacedemonians, and such, in ancient Greece, which now is a 
part of Italy, was the teaching of Pitagoras of Samos, who by 
the durability and goodness of his constitutions is traditionally 
reported to have well served all Italy. Would that gold along 
with silver might become cheap, since the only really valid kind 
of value is that of the things whose usefulness is recommended 
by nature, the best guide of life. Then the poor man will not 
be trampled on, nor the rich man honored solely on account 
of his money, but each will be held dear or cheap on the strength 
only of his own endowments. Further, some things derive 
their value from themselves intrinsically, other things from the — 
opinion of others. Thus bread and victuals, which consist of — 
necessary foodstuffs or clothing, are regarded as valuable every- 
where throughout the earth by the dictates of nature. Things — 
which please the senses are naturally valued by all. Why 
should I elaborate? The things which derive their value from — 
nature are not only everywhere the same, but are held in esteem 
among all peoples; those which depend upon opinion are uncer- 
tain; and as they come with fancy, so they disappear when the 
fancy passes. The emperor therefore had no need to fear 
that the material of commercial dealings would become lacking, 
since buying and selling are common even among those peoples 
who are not acquainted with the use of money. I know that 
Salomon was a man of such wisdom that he at least would 
never have feared lest gold and silver might become cheap for 
his posterity, whose nature he saw was of a hungry kind, and 
thirsted chiefly after nothing so much as money. Wherefore, 
through inspired wisdom, that excellent king despised utterly 
this rust, and by his example invited those who came after him 


Policraticus IV 5 22 


to share his contempt for money. Of course it is advantageous 
for a king to be wealthy provided he looks upon his wealth as 
belonging to the people. He will therefore not regard as his 
own the wealth of which he has the custody for the account of 
others, nor will he treat as private the property of the fisc, 
which is acknowledged to be public. Nor is this any ground 
for wonder since he is not even his own man, but belongs 

wholly to his subjects. 7 


CH A: Pol Rage 


THAT HE SHOULD HAVE THE LAW OF GOD EVER BEFORE HIS MIND 
AND EYES, AND SHOULD BE LEARNED IN LETTERS, AND 
SHOULD BE GUIDED BY THE COUNSEL OF MEN OF LETTERS. 


ee a eee 


“And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his king- 
dom that he shall write him a copy of this law of the Deuter- 
onomy in a book.” Observe that the prince must not be ig- 
norant of the law, and, though he enjoys many privileges, he is 
not permitted, on the pretext that his duties are military, to be 
ignorant of the law of God. He shall therefore write the law } 
of the Deuteronomy, that is to say the second law, in the book — 
of his heart; it being understood that the first law is that which 
is embodied in the letter ; the second, that which the mystical in- 
sight learns from the first. For the first could be inscribed on ~ 
tablets of stone; but the second is imprinted only on the purer — 
intelligence of the mind. And rightly is the Deuteronomy in- — 
scribed in a book in the sense that the prince turns over in his — 
mind the meaning of this law so that its letter never recedes 
from before his eyes. And thus he holds the letter firm, with- 
out permitting it in any wise to vary from the purity of the — 
inner meaning. For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life, — 
and it rests in his hands to give a mediating interpretation of — 
human law and equity which must be at once necessary and 
general. . 

“Taken from the copy,” says the scripture, “which is in the — 
hands of the priests of the tribe of Levi.” And rightly so. 
Every censure imposed by law is vain if it does not bear the 
stamp of the divine law; and a statute or ordinance of the 

24 


+? 


Policraticus IV 6 20 


prince is a thing of nought if not in conformity with the teach- 
ing of the Church. This did not escape the notice of that most 
Christian prince,’ who required of his laws that they should not 
disdain to imitate the sacred canons. And not only are men 
enjoined to take priests as models for imitation, but the prince 
is expressly sent to the tribe of Levi to borrow of them. For 
lawful priests are to be hearkened to in such fashion that the 
just man shall close his ear utterly to reprobates and all who 
speak evil against them. But who are priests of the tribe of 
Levi? Those, namely, who without the incentive of avarice, 
without the motive of ambition, without affection of flesh and 
blood, have been introduced into the Church by the law. And 
not the law of the letter, which mortifieth, but the law of the 
spirit, which in holiness of mind, cleanness of body, purity of 
faith and works of charity, giveth life. And as the old law of 
the shadow, which presented all things figuratively, foreordained 
to the priesthood the members of a special family of flesh and 
blood ; so after the shadows ceased, and the Truth was revealed, 
and justice looked forth from heaven, those who were com- 
mended by the merit of their life and the fragrance of their 
good reputation, and whom the united will of the faithful or 
the diligent foresight of prelates caused to be set apart for the 
work of the ministry, were enrolled by the spirit into the tribe of 
Levi, and were instituted lawful priests. 

It is added: “He shall keep it with him and read therein all 
the days of his life.” Observe how great should be the diligence 
of the prince in keeping the law of God. He is enjoined always 
to have it, read it, and turn it over in his mind, even as the King 
of kings, born of woman, born under the law, fulfilled the 
whole justice of the law, though He was subject to it not of 
necessity but of His own free will; because His will was em- 
bodied in the law, and on the law of God He meditated day and 


41,e, Justinian. 


26 John of Salisbury 


night. But it may be thought that in this respect He is not a 

model for imitation, seeing that He embraced not the glory of © 
kings but the poverty of the faithful, and, putting on servile 

form, sought on earth no place to lay His head; and, when 

asked by His judge, confessed that His kingdom was not of this 

world. If so, other examples may be found of famous kings 

whose memory is blessed. From the tents of Israel let David, — 
Ezechias and Josias come forth, and the others who thought 
that the glory of their kingship consisted in this alone, that seek- 
ing the glory of God they subjected themselves and their sub- 
jects to the bonds of the divine law. And lest perchance these 
examples appear too remote, and the less to be followed because 
we seem to have departed somewhat from their law and ritual 
and religious worship and profession of faith (though our 
faith and theirs are in fact the same, with only this difference, 
that what they. looked forward to in expectation of the future, 
we now in great measure enjoy and worship as fulfilled, casting 
aside the shadows of figures since the Truth has risen from the — 
earth and stands revealed in the sight of the gentiles) ; yet, as I 
say, lest their examples be scorned as alien and profane, our © 
own Constantine, Theodosius, Justinian, Leo and other most — 
Christian princes, afford instruction for the Christian prince. — 
For they took especial pains to the end that the most sacred laws, 
which are binding upon the lives of all, should be known and — 
kept by all, and that none should be ignorant thereof, save in — 
cases where the damage due to the error was compensated by — 
some public advantage or where the edge of the law’s severity — 
was mitigated by compassion for age or for the weakness of — 
sex. Their deeds are so many incentives to virtue; their words © 
so many lessons in morals. Finally, their life, with its record | 
of vices subdued and made captive, is like an arch of triumph — 
consecrated to posterity, which they erected and inscribed with | 
the list of their splendid virtues, declaring in every part with | 
devout humility that not our hands, but the hand of God, — 


Porperativcus IV 6 27 


wrought all these our wondrous works. Constantine, for 
founding and endowing the Roman church, to say nought of his 
other excellent deeds, is honored with perpetual benediction. 
What manner of men Justinian and Leo were is clear from the 
fact that by disclosing and proclaiming the most sacred laws, 
they sought to consecrate the whole world as a temple of justice. 
What shall I say of Theodosius, whom these emperors regarded 
as a model of virtue, and whom the Church of God has revered 
not only as an emperor but as a high priest, because of his char- 
acter, venerable for piety and justice, and his patient humility 
toward priests, holding himself in low esteem beside them? 
How patiently he who had himself given laws bore the sentence 
of the priest of Milan! And, lest you should falsely conceive 
that that sentence was the light one of a weak and cowardly 
presbyter accustomed to show complacency toward princes, know 
that the emperor was suspended from the exercise of his royal 
rights, was excluded from the church, and was compelled to 
fulfil a solemn penance. What was it that subjected him to such 
a necessity? Nought save his own will, which was wholly sub- 
jected to the justice of God, and obedient in all respects to His 
law. And unless you hold in contempt that which is written 
with the levity of a poet, you will find briefly in Claudius 
Claudian, in the instructions which the emperor wrote for his 
son, how high a place he attained in the sanctuary of morals. 
To return to the words of the law which I have set forth, 
when I revolve them in my own mind, each and every one of 
them seems weighty and strikes upon the mind as if impreg- 
nated with the spirit of discernment. “He shall keep the law 
beside him,” it is written, taking care that when he needs to 
have it, he may not have it against him to his own damnation. 
For men of might will suffer mighty torments. And it is added, 
“And he shall read if.” It is of little profit to have the law in 
one’s wallet if it is not faithfully treasured in the soul. There- 
fore it is to be read all the days of his life. From which it is 


28 John of Salisbury 


crystal clear how necessary is a knowledge of letters to princes 
who are thus commanded to turn over the law of God in daily 
reading. And perchance you will not often find that priests are 
bidden to read the law daily. But the prince is to read it daily, 
and all the days of his life; because the day on which he does 
not read the law is for him a day not of life but of death. 
~ But plainly he will hardly be able to do this if he is illiterate. 


Wherefore in the letter which I remember that the king of the - 


Romans sent to the king of the Franks, urging him to have his 
children educated in liberal studies,* he added tastefully to his 
other arguments that an illiterate king is like an ass who wears 
a crown. If, nevertheless, out of consideration for other dis- 
tinguished virtues, it should chance that the prince is illiterate, 
it is needful that he take counsel of men of letters if his affairs 
are to prosper rightly. Therefore let him have at his side men 
like the prophet Nathan, and the priest Sadoch, and the faithful 
sons of the prophets, who will not suffer him to turn aside 
from the law of God; and since his own eyes do not bring it 
before his mind, let these men, the scholars, make a way for it 
with their tongues into the opening of his ears. Thus let the 
mind of the prince read through the medium of the priest’s 
tongue, and whatever of excellence he sees in their lives, let him 
revere it as the law of the Lord. For the life and tongue of 
priests are like a book of life before the face of peoples. Per- 
chance this is what is meant when he is bidden to take a copy of — 
the law from the priests of the tribe of Levi; namely, that in — 
accordance with their preaching should the ruling power guide — 
the government of the magistracy committed to him. Nor is he — 
altogether destitute of reading who, although he does not read — 
himself, yet hears faithfully what is read to him by others. But 
if he does neither, how shall he, thus scorning the precept, © 
fulfil faithfully what the precept enjoins® For the attainment — 


2 Conrad III to Louis VII. 


Pearoraticus IV 6 29 


of wisdom is the union and concourse of all desirable things. 
Did not Tholomeus think that something was still lacking to the 
sum of his happiness until, summoning seventy interpreters, 
although he was a gentile, he had communicated the law of God 
to the Greeks? It makes no difference whether the interpreters 
were enclosed in the same room and conferred therein together, 
or whether they prophesied separately, so long as it is estab- 
lished that the king, anxious in pursuit of the truth, caused the 
law of God to be translated into Greek. In the Attic Nights I 
remember to have read when the notable traits and habits of 
Philip of Macedon were treated, that among other things his 
love of letters colored as it were the business of war and the 
triumphs of victory, the liberality of his table, the offices of hu- 
manity and whatever he did or said gracefully or elegantly. He 
recognized that in this quality he excelled others, and was anx- 
ious to transmit it as the basis of his inheritance to the only son 
who he hoped would be the heir of his kingdom and good for- 
tune. For this reason he thought fit to write his famous letter 
to Aristotle, who he hoped would become the teacher of the 
newly born Alexander. It is substantially in the following 
words: “Philip sends greetings to Aristotle. now that a son 
has been born to me, for which I give thanks to the Gods not 
more because he has been born than because his birth has chanced 
in your life-time. For I hope that it will come to pass that, 
educated and trained by you, he will grow up worthy of our- 
selves and of taking over such great affairs.”*® I do not re- 
member that the Roman emperors or commanders, so long as 
their commonwealth flourished, were illiterate. And I do not 
know how it chances, but since the merit of letters has lan- 
guished among princes, the strength of their military arm has be- 
come enfeebled and the princely power itself has been as it were 
cut off at the root. But no wonder, since without wisdom no 


3 Aulus Gellius, ix, 3. 


30 John of Salisbury 


government can be strong enough to endure or even to exist. 
Socrates, who was pronounced by the oracle of Apollo to be the 
wisest of men, and who without contradiction excelled incom- _ 
parably, not only in reputation for wisdom but also in virtue, 
those who are called the seven sages, asserted that common- 
wealths would only be happy if they were governed by phi- 
 losophers or if their rulers at least became students and lovers _ 
of wisdom. And (if you hold the authority of Socrates of 
small account), “Through me,” says Wisdom, “kings reign and 
the establishers of laws decree that which is just; I love them 
that love me, and they that watch for me in the morning shall 
find me; with me are wealth and glory, proud riches and justice; 
better is my fruit than gold and precious stones, my increase 
than choice silver; I walk in the ways of justice, in the midst of 
the paths of judgment, that I may enrich them that love me and 
that I may fill their treasuries.” * And again, “Counsel is mine — 
and equity, mine is prudence, mine is fortitude.”’® And else- 

where, “Receive my instruction and not money, choose knowl- 

edge rather than gold. For wisdom is better than all the most 

precious riches, and every object of desire is not to be com- 
pared with it.” ° While the gentiles thought that nothing should 
be done without the command of divinities, yet one they wor- 
shipped as the god of gods and prince of them all, namely wis- 
dom, as being in authority over all else. Wherefore the an- | 
cient philosophers thought fit that the likeness of wisdom should | 
be depicted before the doors of all temples and that these words | 
should be inscribed thereon: 


I am begotten by experience, born of memory; 


Ld 


“Sophia” the Greeks call me, you “Sapientia.” 7 


And these words likewise: “I hate foolish men and idle works 
and philosophic commonplaces.’ And surely the fiction was j 


PAP LOVE Vill S nate 5 Prove vines ea 
6 Prov. viii, 10-IT. 7 Quoted from Afranius by Gellius, xiii, 8. 
’ y d ’ 


Porcraticus IV 6 31 


aptly conceived, although they did not know the Truth in its 
fulness; yet they closely approached thereto, regarding wisdom 
as the guide and head of all things rightly done, since it truly 
boasts that in every nation and people from the beginning it has 
held the primacy, treading under foot by its own inherent 
power the necks of the haughty and the proud. Salomon also 
confesses that he had loved it beyond his own salvation and 
above all fair things, and that in its company all good things had 
been added unto him. 


CHAP. T Eiki 


THAT HE SHOULD BE TAUGHT THE FEAR OF GOD, AND SHOULD ~ 
BE HUMBLE, AND SO MAINTAIN HIS HUMILITY THAT THE 
AUTHORITY OF THE PRINCE MAY NOT BE DIMINISHED; AND 
THAT SOME PRECEPTS ARE FLEXIBLE, OTHERS INFLEXIBLE. 


The next commandment is that he shall learn to fear the Lord 
his God, and to keep God’s words which are prescribed in the 
law. The law itself adds the reason for keeping its precepts,— 
“To the end that he may learn,” it says. For the diligent reader 
of the law is a pupil, not a master; he does not twist the law 
captive to his own inclination, but accommodates his inclina- — 
tions to its intention and purity. But what does such a pupil — 
learn? Above all, to fear the Lord his God. Rightly so, be- 
cause it is wisdom which institutes and strengthens the govern- — 
ment of a prince; and the beginning of wisdom is fear of the — 
Lord. He therefore who does not begin with the first step of — 
fear aspires in vain to the pinnacle of legitimate princely rule. — 
I say legitimate; for of certain rulers who are cast down while — 
they are exalted, and are worthy of a yet more miserable fate, 
it is written: ‘They have reigned, and not by me; princes have ~ 
arisen and I knew it not’; and elsewhere, “They that handle 
the law have not known wisdom.’? Therefore let the prince 
fear God, and by prompt humility of mind and pious display of — 
works show himself His servant. For a lord is the lord of a~ 
servant. And the prince is the Lord’s servant, and performs : 
his service by serving faithfully his fellow-servants, namely his — 


1 Hos., viii, 4. 2 Jer., ii, 8. 
ae 


feoyeeraticus 1V 7 oe 


— subjects. But let him know also that his Lord is God, to whom 
is to be shown not alone fear of His majesty, but also pious [ove. 
For He is also a father, and one to whom as a result of His 
merits no creature of His can deny affection and love. “If I 
am Lord,” He says, “where is my fear? If I am father, where 
is my love?’ * Also the words of the law are to be kept, which, 
commencing with the first timid step of fear, mounts upward 
_ through the virtues as upon a rising stair with happy ascent. 
“Love of Him,” He says, “is the guardian of His laws’ * be- 
cause all wisdom is fear of God. Further: ‘Who fears God 
will do good works, and who is faithful unto justice will ap- 
prehend her, and she will come forth to meet him as an hon- 
mored mother.’ 5 

What are the words which are to be kept with such diligence? 
_ First of all the precepts of the law, so that through the prince no 
jot or tittle of the law shall fall to earth, because he shall make 
no exception in favor of his own hands or the hands of his 
subjects. 

Now there are certain precepts of the law which have a per- 
petual necessity, having the force of law among all nations and 
which absolutely cannot be broken with impunity. Before the 
law, under the law, and still under the new covenant of grace, 
there is one law which is binding upon all men alike: ‘What 
thou wouldst not should be done unto thee, do thou not unto an- 
other’; and “what thou wouldst should be done unto thee, do 
that unto others.’’ Let the whitewashers of rulers now come 
forward, and let them whisper, or if this is too little, let them 
trumpet abroad that the prince is not subject to the law, and 
_ that whatsoever is his will and pleasure, not merely in establish- 
_ ing law according to the model of equity, but absolutely and free 
from all restrictions, has the force of law. Let them thus, if 
they so desire and dare, make of their king, whom they except 


emvac.4, 6. 4 Wis., vi, 19. ORCC XV, ii, 


34 John of Salisbury 


from the obligations of the law, a very outlaw, and still I will 
maintain not merely in the teeth of their denials but in the 
teeth of all the world, that kings are bound by this law. For 
He who neither deceives nor is deceived says, “By what judg- 
ment ye judge, ye shall yourselves be judged.” *® And surely 
the heaviest judgment that could be passed upon these rulers 
would be to have their own good measure, pressed down, shaken 
together, and running over, poured back into their own bosoms. 
And not only do I withdraw from the hands of rulers the power 
of dispensing with the law, but in my opinion those laws which 
carry a perpetual injunction or prohibition are not subject at all 
to their pleasure. In the case of those rules which are flexible, 
I admit a power of dispensing with verbal strictness; but only 
provided that the purpose of the law is preserved in its integrity 
by a compensating concession made to propriety or public 
utility. 

“And his heart shall not be lifted up,” it is written, “in haugh- 
tiness above his brethren.” This commandment, which is espe- 
cially needful, is several times repeated, because humility never 
sufficiently commends itself to princes, and it is very dif- 
ficult for success in ascending the ladder of honor not to pro- 
duce inflation in the mind of a man without prudence. But 
God sets Himself against the proud beyond all others, and 
bestows His grace upon the humble. Therefore the prudent 
king prays that pride may not set its foot in his path because 
those that work iniquity have tripped thereon and have been 
driven forth and could not stand fast. Let him therefore not 
be haughty above his brethren; but remembering that they are 
his brethren, show brotherly affection to all his subjects. It is 
an admonition of prudence to princes to cultivate humility as 
well as discretion and charity, since without these qualities it 
is altogether impossible for the government of a prince to en- 


6 Matt., vii, 2. 


Pay~craticus IV 7 35 


dure. Whoever therefore loves the height of his own elevation 
should with the greatest diligence maintain the utmost humil- 
ity in his life and manners. For whoever falls away from the 
works of humility, falls from the pinnacle of his honors with 
all his inflated weight. It is an everlasting and abiding rule that 
he who humbles himself shall be exalted, and, vice versa, he who 
exalts himself shall be brought low. Pride made Tarquin the 
last king of the Romans, and put in his place magistrates who 
were more useful because of their humility. What man of 
pride have you ever read of whose reign was longer? History 
is filled with those who fell because of their pride. But he 
should not avoid pride to the point of falling into contempt ; 
abjectness is to be avoided as much as haughtiness. Wherefore 
the Roman law cautions those who administer justice to make 
themselves easy of access but not to bring themselves into con- 
tempt; and the provision is added to the commissions of gov- 
ernors of provinces that they shall not admit provincials to 
undue familiarity, because association on an equal footing tends 
to produce contempt for a man’s dignity. Let him therefore 
in public preserve respect for the majesty of the people and 
at home observe the fit measure of his private station. 
This is the precept contained in the writings of the ancient 
philosophers. A father and son once came to Athens to see 
and make the acquaintance of the philosopher Taurus. The 
son was governor of the province of Crete, but the father was 
a private citizen. Taurus quietly rose to greet them as they 
approached, and sat down again after their mutual salutation. 
_ A single chair which stood nearby was brought, and was placed 
while others were sent for. Taurus invited the father of the 
governor to sit down. But he declined, saying, “Rather let him 
_be seated who is a magistrate of the Roman people,” “With- 
out prejudice to our decision,” said Taurus to him, “do you sit 
“ down while we examine which is the more proper, whether you 
% Should rather be seated because you are his father, or he be- 


36 John of Salisbury 


cause he bears a magistracy of the Roman people’ When the 
father had taken the seat and another chair was placed for the 
son, Taurus discussed the question before those who had 
gathered about, weighing with the greatest care the respective 
claims of fairness, justice, public station, and official duty. The 
substance of his words was this. In public places and func- 
tions, the rights of fathers as compared with those of sons who 
hold public office and power become dormant. But when, out- 
side the sphere of public affairs, it is a question of sitting, walk- 
ing, or reclining at a friendly banquet in private life, then as be- 
tween a son who is a magistrate and a father who is a private 
citizen, public honors cease and the claims of nature and birth 
revive. ‘Your coming to me,” said Taurus, “and our talking 
together at this present time and discussing the question of 
duties, is a private act. Therefore you as a father are entitled 
to the same precedence and respect as it is proper for you to en- 
joy in your own home.” | 

I think that magistrates generally should be urged that in the 
splendor of their public dignity they should be mindful of their 
condition as private men, and at the same time should so regard 
their private station as not to bring disgrace upon the honor of 
their public office ; each should maintain the honor conferred on 
him without derogating from the dignity of others, and should 
so value his private dignity as not to bring insult or harm upon 
the public power. 


Pre LER V LIT 


THAT THE PRINCE SHOULD EFFECT A RECONCILIATION OF J USTICE 
WITH MERCY, AND SHOULD SO TEMPER AND COMBINE THE 
TWO AS TO PROMOTE THE ADVANTAGE OF THE COMMON- 
WEALTH. 


It should hold true of the prince, as it should hold true of all 
men, that no one should seek his own interest but that of others. 
Yet the measure of the affection with which he should embrace 
his subjects like brethren in the arms of charity must be kept 
within the bounds of moderation. For his love of his brethren 
should not prevent him from correcting their errors with proper 
medicine ; he acknowledges the ties of flesh and blood to the end 
that he may subdue these to the rule of the spirit. It is the 
practice of physicians when they cannot heal a disease with 
poultices and mild medicines to apply stronger remedies such as 
fire or steel. But they never employ these unless they despair 
of restoring health by milder means, and so the ruling power 
when it cannot avail by mild measures to heal the vices of its 
subjects, rightly resorts, though with grief, to the infliction of 
sharp punishments, and with pious cruelty vents its rage against 
wrong-doers to the end that good men may be preserved un- 
injured. But who was ever strong enough to amputate the 
members of his own body without grief and pain? Therefore 
the prince grieves when called upon to inflict the punish- 
ment which guilt demands, and yet administers it with reluctant 
right hand. For the prince has no left hand, and in subjecting 
to pain the members of the body of which he is the head, he 

37 


38 John of Salisbury 


obeys the law in sadness and with groans. Philip once heard 
that a certain Phicias, who was a good fighting man, had be- 
come alienated from him because in his poverty he found dif- 
ficulty in supporting his three daughters and yet received no 
aid from the king. When his friends advised him accordingly 
to beware of the man, “What,” said Philip, “if a part of my 
body were sick, would I cut it off rather than seek to heal it?” 
Then he sought out this Phicias privately in a friendly way, 
and provided him with sufficient money which he accepted for the 
necessities of his private difficulties. And thereby the king 
made this man better disposed toward him and more faithful 
than he had been before he supposed himself offended. Ac- 
cordingly, as Lucius says: “A prince should have an old man’s 
habit of mind, who follows moderate counsels, and should play 
the part of a physician, who heals diseases sometimes by re- 
ducing the diet of the overfed, and again by increasing that of 
the under-nourished, who allays pain at times by cautery, and at 
other times by poultices.” In addition, he should be affable of 
speech, and generous in conferring benefits, and in his manners 
he should preserve the dignity of his authority unimpaired. A 
pleasant address and a gracious tongue will win for him the 
reputation of benignity. Kindness will compel the most faith-_ 
ful and constant love from even the sternest, and will increase 
and confirm the love which it has produced. And the reverence 
of subjects is the fit reward of dignity of manners. : 
Excellently did Trajan, the best of the pagan emperors, onl 
swer his friends when they reproached him with making him- 
self too common toward all men and more so, they thought, than 
was becoming for an emperor; for he said that he desired to be 
toward private citizens such an emperor as he had desired to 
have over him when he was a private citizen himself. And in ; 
accordance with this principle, acting on the report of the 
younger Pliny who at that time with other judges was designated 
to persecute the Church, he recalled the sword of persecutma 


Porteraticus IV 8 30 


from the slaughter of the martyrs and moderated his edict. 
And perchance he would have dealt more gently still with the 
faithful, had not the laws and examples of his predecessors, and 
the advice of men who were considered wise counsellors, and the 
authority of his judges, all urged him to destroy a sect regarded 
by public opinion * as superstitious, and as enemies of true re- 
ligion. I do not unreservedly and in all respects commend the 
judgment of a man who knew not Christ, yet I do extenuate the 
fault of him who broke loose from the pressure of others and 
followed the instinct of his own natural piety toward kindness 
and pity, a man whose nature it was to be merciful toward all, 
though stern toward the few whom it would be sinful to spare; 
so that in the course of his whole reign only one of the senators 
or nobles of the city was condemned, although a great number 
could have been found who had offended grievously against him. 
And this man was condemned by the senate without the knowl- 
edge of Trajan himself. For it was his habit to say that a 
man is insane who, having inflamed eyes, prefers to dig them out 
rather than to cure them. So again he said that the nails, if they 
are too sharp, should be trimmed and not plucked out. For if 
a cithern player and other performers on stringed instruments 
can by diligence find a way to correct the fault of a string which 
is out of tune and bring it again into accord with the other 
strings, and so out of discord make the sweetest harmony, not 
by breaking the strings but by making them tense or slack in due 
proportions; with how much care should the prince moderate 
his acts, now with the strictness of justice, and now with the 
leniency of mercy, to the end that he may make his subjects 
all be of one mind in one house, and thus as it were out of dis- 
cordant dispositions bring to pass one great perfect harmony in 
the service of peace and in the works of charity? This, how- 
ever, is certain, that it is safer for the cords to be relaxed than 


1“QOpinio publica,”—the expression is noteworthy, 


40 John of Salisbury 


to be stretched too tautly. For the tension of slack cords can 
be corrected by the skill of the artificer so that they will again 
give forth the proper sweetness of tone; but a string that has 
once been broken, no artificer can repair. Further, if a sound 
is asked of them which they do not have, they are stretched in 
vain, and more often come speedily to nought than to what is 
improperly asked. As the ethical writer says: 


The true prince is slow to punish, swift to reward, 
And grieves whenever he is compelled to be severe.” 


For while justice is one thing and godliness another, still both 
are so necessary to the prince that whoever without them at- 
tains, not necessarily to princely power, but even to any mag- 
istracy whatever, mocks himself in vain but will surely provoke 
against himself the mockery and scorn and hatred of others. 
“Let not kindness and truth,” saith the Lord, “forsake thee, bind 
them about thy neck, and write them on the tablet of thy heart; 
so shalt thou find favor and obedience in the sight of God and 
men.” * For kindness deserves favor, justice deserves obe- 
dience. The favor and love of one’s subjects, which are brought 
to pass by divine favor, are the most effective instrument of all 
accomplishments. But love without obedience is of no avail, 
because when the spur of justice ceases, then the people relax 
into unlawful courses. Therefore he must ceaselessly meditate 
wisdom, that by its aid he may do justice, without the law of 
mercy being ever absent from his tongue; and so temper mercy 
with the strictness of justice that his tongue speaks nought save 
judgment. For his office transmutes his justice into judgment 
continually and of necessity because he may never lawfully re-— 
pose therefrom without thereby divesting himself of the honor 
that has been conferred on him. For the honor of a king de- » 
lights in judgment and represses the faults of offenders with 
tranquil moderation of mind. | 


a 


——- See 


2 Ovid, Pont., i, 2, lines 123-24. 3 Proverbs, iii, 3, 4. 


Pouegraticus FV § AI 


The moderation of magistrates is said to have been the sub- 
ject of a book written by Plutarch, entitled Archigramaton: 
and he is also said by word and example to have instructed the 
magistrates of his own city in forbearance and the practice of 
justice. Another story is told of him to the effect that he had a 
slave, a worthless and stubborn fellow, but well trained in liberal 
studies, and much practised in philosophic disputations. It 
happened that for some fault, I know not what, Plutarch or- 
dered him to have his tunic taken off and be flogged. He had 
already begun to be struck sharply with the lash, but still denied 
the fault, saying that he had done nothing wrong, that he-had 
committed no offence, and insisted that for his many faithful 
services he did not deserve to be thus beaten. Finally, when he 
found it all to no avail, he commenced to cry aloud, and in the 
midst of the flogging broke out, not into complaints and groans, 
but into words of serious reproach; Plutarch was not acting, he 
said, as befitted a philosopher ; it was disgraceful to give way to 
anger, especially for a man who had often discoursed on the 
wrongfulness of anger and had written a fine book on forbear- 
ance. He added that it was shameful for him now to con- 
tradict his own doctrine by his acts, and, lapsing into incon- 
sistency, to fly off into a rage and punish an innocent man with 
many blows. At this Plutarch, speaking gently and slowly and 
with the greatest seriousness, asked the man, “Do I seem to you 
to be angry for the simple reason that you are receiving a flog- 
ging? Is it a sign of anger on my part if you are getting from 
me that which is your due? Can you perceive from my face or 
voice or complexion, or even from my words, that I am in the 
grip of anger? I do not believe that my eyes look fierce or my 
face passionate, I am not shouting immoderately, nor am I hot 
or red or perspiring, I am speaking no words for a man to 
be ashamed of, or any that I ought to repent, nor am I trembling 
with rage or gesticulating. These, if you do not know it, are 
the usual signs of anger.”’ And then turning to the man who 


42 John of Salisbury 


was administering the blows, he said: ‘While I and this man 
dispute, go on with your work; and, without sharing my anger, 
pound out his slavish obstinacy, and teach him to repent of his 
wrong-doing instead of thus disputing.” Thus Plutarch. 
Wherein remains much matter of instruction for all who are in 
high place. 


Ratt le Rt Xx 


WHAT THE MEANING IS OF INCLINING TO THE RIGHT HAND OR 
THE LEFT, WHICH IS FORBIDDEN TO THE PRINCE. 


The next commandment is, “He shall not incline to the right 


hand nor to the left.” To incline to the right hand signifies to 


insist too enthusiastically on the virtues themselves. To incline 
to the right is to exceed the bounds of moderation in the works 
of virtue, the essence of which is moderation. For truly all 


enthusiasm is the foe of salvation and all excess is a fault; 


nothing is worse than the immoderate practice of good works. 
Wherefore the heathen author says: 


“The wise man will get the name of mad, the just man of being 
unjust, 


If he pursue virtue itself beyond the measure of what is suff- 


cient.” 4 


And the philosopher warns us to avoid excess; for if a man 
depart from this caution and moderation, he will in his lack 
of caution forsake the path of virtue itself. Salomon, too, says, 
“Be not too just.” * What excess can then be of any profit, if 
justice herself, the queen of the virtues, is hurtful in excess? 
And elsewhere to the same effect: “Excessive humility is the 
highest degree of pride.” ‘To incline to the left means to slip or 
deviate from the way of virtue down the precipices of the vices. 
Therefore one turns aside to the left who is too ready to punish 
his subjects, and take revenge on them for their faults; on the 


rior, p., 1, 6, il. 15, 16. 2 Eccles., vii, 17. 
43 


44 John of Salisbury 


other hand, he deviates to the right who is too indulgent to 
offenders out of excess of kindness. Both roads lead away 
from the true path; but that which inclines toward the left is 
the more harmful. 


Pair Ee RX 


OF THE ADVANTAGE WHICH PRINCES MAY DRAW FROM THE 
PRACTICE OF JUSTICE, 


But is there any advantage in thus keeping the law? The 
language of the prophet supplies it forthwith,—to the end “that 
his reign, and the reign of his son, may be long over Israel.” 
Behold, the reward of so difficult a task is the transmission of 
hereditary kingship from father to son over a long period. 
For the virtue of the parents will prolong the succession of the 
children, while the good fortune of later generations will be 
cut off at the root by the wickedness of their predecessors. 
For it is certain from the testimony of the Holy Spirit that the 
unjust shall perish together, and the heirs of the ungodly shall 
be cut off. But the salvation of the just is from God, who pro- 
tects them in the time of their tribulation. But since the eter- 
nity of time as a whole, however great it is, runs out by the 
minutest moments, and within the whole nought save an ex- 
tremely brief moment ever subsists, what can be long therein, 
since all these moments together, if they might be collected into 
one, would still not fill the place of a point in comparison with 
the true eternity, because after all there can be no comparison 
of things finite with infinite? In the opinion of many, there is 
a proportion or ratio, though a small one, between the center 
and the periphery or circumference; but between time and 
eternity there can be none. What then can be long within that 
which as a whole is short? Or what blessedness in time will 
seem long to the faithful and everlasting soul if it must yet lack 


1 Ps. xxxvii, 38-30. 
45 


46 John of Salisbury 


a still further measure of time? My own opinion, speaking, 
however, without prejtidice to better, is that in the passage in 
question “a long reign” means a reign for the life-time of the 
unfailing soul who will be crowned with the glory of eternal 
blessedness for a kingdom well administered. For since it is” 
certain that God will reward the works of each and all in over- 

flowing mercy and in the fulness of justice, whom will He look 

upon with a more searching eye than those who either train all 
men to justice, or else on the other hand have drawn others 
down with them to destruction and death? And even as the 

mighty shall suffer mighty torments, so likewise they shall 
rejoice more fully in the rewards of justice if they have rightly 
employed their power ; and in the life to come will surpass their 
subjects in glory, in proportion as they have surpassed them in 
virtue because of the greater opportunity which they have to 
sin. “It was within his power to transgress,” says the Scrip- 
ture, “and he transgressed not; to do ill, and he did not ; there- — 
fore his good works are established in the Lord.” 2 For it is 
imputed as justice to princes that they merely refrain from — 
wrong-doing ; and their plentiful opportunity to sin is for them ; 
a subject-matter of merit. To turn away from evil is a great 
thing in princes, even though they do no great good, provided — 
they do not ruin their subjects by tolerating and indulging evil. 
Is it not a great thing that a continuance of the visible hap- 
piness which they enjoy here on earth is promised to them pro- 
vided they shall have acted rightly? Some say that it is im-_ 
possible both to prosper in this life after the way of the world — 
and also to attain eternal joy with Christ; and the opinion is a_ 
true one if among the prizes of worldly success you include 
pandering to the vices. And yet it is truly within the power of — 
kings to prosper here and at one and the same time pluck both — 


2 Eccli, xxxi, 10, II. 


porter aticus I1V. 130 47 


the sweetest flowers of the world and the most precious fruits of 
eternity. for what happier fortune is there than if princes are 
translated from riches to riches, from delights to delights, from 
glory to glory, from things temporal to things eternal? 


CHAP TE haan 
OF ANOTHER REWARD OF PRINCES. 


Nor do I disregard the promise which is made prima facie by 
the letter of the law when it promises a long reign to the father 
and holds out the prospect of succeeding him to his children, 
who are to be heirs, not merely of his temporal kingdom, but 
also of eternal blessedness. For I know that the law was 
speaking to a carnal people, who having as yet a heart of stone 


and being uncircumcised of mind if not of the flesh, were still 


for the most part ignorant of eternal life, and set chief store 
by having the good things of the earth either given or promised 
them for their bodily subsistence. And so to the carnally 
minded a carnal promise was given, and a long duration of time 
was promised to those who had not yet conceived the hope of 


eternal blessedness; and the prospect of a temporal kingdom ~ 


with succession from father to son was held out to men who as 


yet did not seek an eternal one. And s0, temporally, the father — 
is succeeded by the son, if the latter imitates the father’s justice. — 
“Remove ungodliness,” says Salomon, “from the face of a king, — 
and his throne shall be established in justice.’* For if un- — 
godliness departs from his countenance, that is to say from his — 
will, all his acts of rulership will be guided aright by the met- | 
wand of equity and by the practice of justice. Whence the 
saying that, “A king that sitteth on the throne of judgment — 
putteth all evil to flight by his look.” 2 Lo, how great a privilege © 
do princes enjoy, for whom the glory of reigning is thus made | 


PProvaxxv es 2 Prov. xx, 8. 


48 


Perper aticus 1:V 11 AQ 


perpetual in their flesh and blood, to say nought of eternal 

blessedness! God glories that He has found a man after His 
own heart, and when He has exalted him to the pinnacle of 
kingly power, promises to him kingship everlasting in the line 
of his sons who shall succeed him. “Of the fruit of thy body,” 
he says, “will I set upon thy throne”; and “If thy children keep 
my commandments which I have given, and my testimonies 
which I shall teach them through myself or my deputies, they 
and their children shall sit upon thy throne”; * and “I will make 
his seed to endure forever and his throne as the day of heaven. 
But if his children forsake my law and walk not in mine or- 
dinances, if they profane my decrees and keep not my command- 
ments, then will I visit their iniquities with a rod,”’+ thus 
signifying that kingly power shall be transferred from one 
family to another, and that those heirs after the flesh who are 
seen to be of carnal breed shall be destroyed, and the succession 
transferred to those who are found to be the heirs of faith and 
justice. And herein the truth of the promise endures, and the 
words which have issued from the mouth of the Most High re- 
main in force, to the effect, namely, that to the seed of just kings 
the succession of the faithful remains everlastingly. It also, 
I think, holds perpetually true to the letter that parents will be 
succeeded by their children if these shall have faithfully im- 
itated them in following the commandments of the Lord (to say 
nought at present concerning Christ, who, being of the seed 
of David according to the flesh, is King of kings and Lord of 
all who rule). So that even if, all things being rightly or- 
dered and remaining so, there seems to be no care or any task 
at all left for a ruler to perform, still, it is a settled fact that 
those who have once taken a prince to rule over them shall 
never be without a successor of his seed, although for no other 
reason than to preserve the honor and renown of his blood. 


oe CeXKti, 11 ff. SG) 1X XIX, 20, 


50 John of Salisbury 


And this is shown by examples drawn from the books of his- 
tory. For it is told how, when the great Alexander had reached 
the farthest shore of Ocean, he made ready to vanquish the isle 
of the Bragmanni. They despatched to him thereupon a letter 
couched in these terms: “We have heard, most unconquered 
king, of your battles, and that the good fortune of victory has 
everywhere followed them. But wherewith will a man be satis- 
fied who is not satisfied with the whole world? We have no 
riches, whereof the desire might entitle you to attack us; all 
our goods are common to all. Food is our only wealth, and 
instead of having ornaments of gold, our raiment is poor and 
scanty. Our women are not decked out to please; devotion 
to ornaments they despise as rather a fault than a merit. They 
know not how to increase their beauty or to pretend to more 
than that wherewith they were born. Caves serve us for two 
purposes, for a shelter in life and for a tomb in death. We have 
a king not for the sake of administering justice but to main- 
tain and preserve his nobility. For what room can there be for 
administering punishment where no injustice is ever com- 
mitted?” These words convinced Alexander that it would be 
no victory to disturb their perpetual peace, and he dismissed 
them to their own quiet. And perchance had he attacked them 
in war, he might little enough have prevailed against an in- 
nocent people, because not easily is innocence vanquished, and 
the truth, standing firm in its own strength, ever triumphs over 
evil, albeit completely armed. 

But, since there is nought which men more desire than to 
have their sons succeed them in their possessions, even as men 
foreseeing that death is an incident of their mortal state seek 
to prolong their own existence in the heirs of their body, there- — 
fore this promise is given to princes as the greatest incentive to — 
the practice of justice. For somehow it happens that those who 
are without anxiety for themselves, are always solicitous for the 
welfare of their children. Herein is an inversion of the proper 


feoercroticus IV rr 51 


order of affection in that the love which is due before all else 
to one’s fatherland and parents should be thus poured out by a 
father upon his children until love of children wholly drains 
dry his heart, and shuts out all other affections. The children 
in turn repay their parents as the latter deserve, bestowing on 
their own children the affection which they received from their 
parents ; although the proper order of affection demands a dif- 
ferent order, which was wisely expressed by the most learned of 
the poets. For after the fall of Troy he places the aged 
Anchises upon the shoulders of his dutiful son, he gives to 
Ascanius the right hand of his father Aeneas, while Creusa, the 
wife, clings to her husband, tracking the footsteps of the others 
because of the weakness of her sex. To all his fellow- 
countrymen the poet gave as a leader a man who was famous at 
once for his feats of arms and for his sense of duty. For a 
leader of another kind would have availed not, since kingdoms 
cannot be won without prowess or retained without justice. 
But today all are actuated by the single motive of making their 
children, no matter what the character of the latter may be, 
resplendent with riches and honors rather than with virtues. 
They even neglect and forget that the burden and responsibility 
of the common weal rests upon them. After the expulsion of 
Tarquin the Proud, who was the last king to reign in the City, 
Brutus, the first who held the office of consul, learned that his 
sons were concerned in a plot to bring back the kings into the 
City. He forthwith caused them to be dragged into the forum, 


and in the midst of a public assembly ordered them to be 


flogged with rods and afterwards beheaded, to show publicly 


| that he was the father of the whole people and had adopted the 
_ people in place of his own children. And although of course I 


look upon parricide with the utmost horror, still I cannot re- 
frain from approving the loyalty and faithfulness of this con- 
sul, who preferred to jeopardize the safety of his own children 
rather than that of the people. Whether he did rightly, let wiser 


52 John of Salisbury 


men decide. For I know that the question has been a battle- 


ground of oratorical commonplace, and that declaimers have — 


often enough toiled and sweated over it on both sides, laboring 
either to excuse the parricide on the ground of fidelity to public 
duty, or on the other hand to prove that the merit of fidelity 
to the public was effaced by the infamy of the crime. But if 
you press me to state an opinion, I will give you the answer 
which I find was given to Gneius Dolabella by the Areopagites 
in the case of the woman of Smyrna. For when he governed 


the province of Asia as proconsul, a certain woman of Smyrna — 
was brought before him, who confessed that she had murdered _ 


her husband and son by secretly giving them poison, because 
they had foully and treacherously slain a son of hers by an- 
other marriage, a fine blameless youth. She asserted that her 
act was lawful by the indulgence of the laws themselves, and 
that besides she did not know the law, and that she was but 
punishing an atrocious outrage against herself, her flesh and 
blood, and the whole commonwealth. The law was separate 
from the case, since the facts were admitted, and only a question 


of law remained. Therefore, when Dolabella referred the — 


matter to his council, there was none who in such a doubtful 


case as it seemed to be was willing either to go the length of © 
absolving the manifest poisoning and parricide, or on the other ; 
hand to condemn the just vengeance which had befallen godless © 
wretches who were partricides themselves. The matter was 


accordingly referred to the council of the Areopagus at Athens, 


as being graver and more experienced judges. But after they — 
had heard the case, they adjourned it, and ordered the prose- — 


cutors and the accused woman to appear before them a hundred 


years from that day. Thus they neither absolved the poison- — 
ing, which was illegal under the law, nor punished the woman | 
who had committed the crime, but who in the opinion of many — 


could have been justly acquitted. This story is told in the 


ninth book of the work of Valerius Maximus entitled ‘““Mem- 


meammenatecus IV. rir 53 


orable Words and Deeds.” I will readily agree that both 
Brutus and the woman transgressed, because “The remedy 
exceeded due measure and followed too far the course of the 
disease,’ ° and, although the crimes were great, still it would 
have been better had they been avenged without resorting to 
another crime by way of punishment. Wherefore even the 
poet who lauds Brutus, bears witness also to his unhappy plight; 
for Virgil says in the sixth book: 


“The father in the name of fair liberty will cite to punishment 
his sons who are kindling new wars,—unhappy father none the 
less, it matters not how later ages will tell the story of his deéd.” ® 


_ But in the following line he seeks to excuse the ill-hap of the 


parricide, and at the same time blame it, by attributing it to 
the vanity of vainglory: 


“Love of country will prevail with him, and boundless desire of 


praise.” 


There is, however, no need for anxiety that the example given 
by Brutus of preferring the people to one’s own children will 
be followed to excess, since generally a man prefers even the 
vices of his children to the safety of the commonwealth, al- 
though it is certain that the safety of the people ought to be 
placed before all children. In the Book of Kings it is related 
how a vow was made to keep a fast day at the peril of him 
who should break his vow by taking food before night. Jona- 
than, the son of King Saul, tasted some honey which he had 
touched with his scepter, that is to say, with his spear; and 
the king, moved by fatherly affection, is blamed for having 
spared his son contrary to the obligation of his vow; to which 
transgression the defeat of the people of Israel on that day 
was thought to have been due. Heli also, although it is writ- 


SLucan, Phars., it, 143, 144. 8 Aen., vi, 820-823. 


54 John of Salisbury 


ten of him that he was blameless in his own conduct, yet par- 
doned the vices of his sons; and in consequence when his chair 
was overturned, he fell and broke his neck and so died. To 
say nought of others, how greatly, I ask, did He love and 
seek the general welfare of mankind who did not spare His own 
Son, but gave Him for our sake, to the end that He might bear 
the chains and stripes and cross which we had merited, and 
be condemned to a shameful death, though Himself blameless 
and innocent? Search the history of the kings of Israel, and 
you will find that the reason wherefor the people besought 
God to give them a king was that he might go before the face 
of the people, and fight their battles, and, after the likeness of 
the gentiles, bear the burdens of the whole people. And yet 
a king was not truly needed, had not Israel after the likeness 
of the gentiles walked crookedly and showed themselves not 
content to have God for their king. For had they themselves 
practised justice and walked faithfully in the commandments 
of the Lord, God would freely and without price have humbled 
their enemies and stretched out His hand over their tribulations, 
so that by the wonted help of God one might have vanquished 
a thousand, and two put to flight ten thousand. 

Well do I remember to have heard it said by my host at 
Placentia, a man of the noblest birth and blood, who had the 
prudence of this world in the fear of God, that it is well 
known from frequent experience in the city-states of Italy that 
so long as they love peace and practise justice and abstain from 
falsehood and perjury, they enjoy liberty and peace in such 
fulness that there is nought whatsoever that can in the least 
degree disturb their repose. But when they fall into deceptions, 
and by the devious by-ways of injustice are divided against 
themselves, then straightway the Lord brings down upon them 
either the arrogance of Rome or the fury of the Germans, 
or some other scourge; and His hand remains heavy upon 
them until of their own free accord they return from their 


aN r 


= Poeraticus IV r'r 55 


iniquity by the way of repentance; by which remedy alone 
_ the storm wholly ceases from among them. He added that 
‘the good deserts of the people bring to an end every instance 
of princely rule or else cause it to be of the mildest character : 
while on the contrary it is certain that it is because of the sins 
of the people that God permits a hypocrite to reign over them; 
and it is impossible that the reign of a ruler should be long wie 
bears himself too haughtily and exults in the humiliation of 
~ the people and in his own elevation. But he said that long 
_ was the rule of the man who through consciousness of his humil- 
| _ ity was ever dissatisfied with himself, and reigned as though 
unwillingly. This was told me by my host of Placentia; and 
it impressed me as worthy of belief. 

_ Something to the same effect is found in the writings of 
“old times. For Helius, having brilliantly filled the office of 
_ prefect of Rome, was advanced from senator to emperor. The 
_ Senate then besought him to confer the title of Augustus on 
his son Cesar; but he replied, “It should be enough that I 
myself have reigned against my will and without deserving it. 
_ For the office of prince is not due to blood, but to merit; and 
there is no advantage in the rule of one who is born a king 
without being a king by merit. Nor can there be doubt that he 
4 sins against parental affection who crushes his little ones under 
a burden which they cannot bear. This is to suffocate one’s 
’ c ildren, not to advance them. They are first to be nourished 
and trained in the virtues; and when they have become so pro- 
ficient therein that they prove themselves to excel in virtue 
= ose whom they are to excel in public honors, then let them 
ascend the throne, if they are invited to do so, and let them never 
lose the good wishes of their fellow-citizens. For who doubts 
that those are to be preferred above others who besides being 
enriched as it were with the privilege of natural worth are also 
inspired to virtue by the example of their ancestors, and by 
aeeeson of this inspire in others a confidence in their future good- 


: 
‘a 


56 John of Salisbury 


ness?” Such were his words. And surely he expressed aptly 
the privilege of a prince, whose sons succeed him without the 
raising of any question and in continuance of the original 
grant from God unless their princely power is subverted as a 
punishment of iniquity. 


Pear Rox TI 


FOR WHAT REASONS THE KINGSHIP OR PRINCELY POWER IS 
TRANSFERRED. 


A familiar passage of Divine Wisdom teaches that kingship 
shall be transferred from family to family because of injustices 
and injuries and contumelies and diverse deceits.* 

Is it not evident after how short a space of time the throne 
of the first king among the people of God was overturned? 
Because of their faults Saul, and Jonathan, and the others of 
the king’s sons, met destruction on the hill-tops to the end that 
his throne might be established who was chosen from following 
the ewes that gave suck. Run through the sequence of all the 
histories and you will see in brief the successions of kings, and 
how they were cut off by God, like threads in the warp of a 
web. And the more illustrious the kings, so much the more 
speedily, if their pride rebels against God, is their seed trampled 
under foot. There is no wisdom, no prudence, no counsel 
which can prevail against God, and certainly no courage. If He 
rises up and pursues, it is vain to have recourse to, or beg 
aid of, sacraments or the protection of fortresses, because there 
is none who can escape His hand. Who was greater than 
Alexander in Greece? And yet we read that he was succeeded 
not by his own son but by the son of a dancing girl. Who does 
not know the list of emperors of the house of Cesar? Few 
or none of them left his heritage to his own son, and all 
of them in brief, after various perils and many murders of their 
own flesh and blood, were blotted out as if in a moment by 


1 tech. x, 8. 
57 


58 John of Salisbury 


diverse deaths, generally of a shameful kind; and descending 
into the lower world, they were succeeded by enemies or 
strangers. 

What, I ask, so swiftly subverted and transferred such 
mighty kingdoms? Surely the indignation of God, provoked by 
manifold injustices against Him. Injustice, the Stoics think, 1s 
a frame of mind which banishes equity from the realm of the 
habits. That the soul is “deprived” of justice is signified by 
the use of the privative particle. Now the principal element of 
justice is not to do harm, and to prevent, out of a duty of hu- 
manity, those who seek to do harm. When you do harm, you 
fall into injustice. And when you put no obstacle in the way 
of those who seek to do harm, you then serve and aid injustice. 

Contumely is when an outward act results from mental pas- 
sion to the manifest hurt of another. And it serves iniquity 
because it arrogantly rises up against one to whom reverence 
is due, either because of his rank, or office, or some bond of 
natural connection. . 

Deceit, according to the definition of Aquilius, is when one 
thing is done and another pretended ; and is clearly wrong when- 
ever committed with the intention of harming. Deceit differs 
greatly from contumely, since the latter acts openly and even 
proudly, while the former acts fraudulently and, as it were, 
from ambush. 

These are the things which, when they occur, overturn the 
thrones of all rulers because the glory of princes is perpetuated 
by their opposites. Deceit is the mask of weakness and the 
image of timidity, and is opposed directly to courage. Con- 
tumely is repressed by prudence, which continually repeats 
“Why should dust and ashes be proud over dust and ashes?” 
Injury is forbidden by temperance, which is unwilling to in- 
flict on another what it would not wish to suffer from another. 
And injustice is excluded by justice, which in all things does 
to others that which it desires to have others do to it. These 


Policraticus IV 12 59 


are the four virtues which philosophers call cardinal, because 
they are thought to flow like primary rivulets from the original 
source of honor and right living, and to beget from themselves 
the streams of all other good things. These are perchance 
the four rivers which emerge from the delicious paradise of 
God to water all the earth to the end that it may bear desirable 
fruit in its own good season. Would that .to me from the 
fountain of life—I speak of the divine grace,—there might 
penetrate these rivers of plenty, watering the earth of my 
barrenness, that by increasing fruit of good works I might 
at least have strength to ward off the blow of the impending 
axe which for my sins is laid to my root as to the root of 
an unfruitful tree! The tree which is planted beside those 
waters does not wither; but the tree which they moisten not 
at the root, decays and perishes as dust which the wind blows 
from the face of the earth. In this respect I think no excep- 
tion is made of leaders nor of rulers, because the glory of 
kings will be transferred if they are found to be guilty of 
injustice or injury or contumely, or deceit; for so the mouth 
of the Lord hath spoken. But with due respect for the opinion 
of wiser men, my own opinion is that it is not inappropriate 
that He speaks of the different vices by a plurality of names, 
and in this plurality has prudently inserted a certain diversity. 
For He says, as was mentioned above, that kingship shall be 
transferred from family to family because of injustice and in- 
juries and contumelies and diverse deceits. The word “di- 
verse,” which is added at the end, is to be understood, I think, 
as referring to all in common, and understood so broadly as to 
‘refer not merely to different species of vices, but also to embrace 
the various kinds of persons and all the modes in which these 
vices are committed by any one. For the prince is responsible 
for all, and seems to be himself the doer of all things, since, 
having the power to correct all, he is deservedly regarded as 
a participant in the things which he omits or refuses to cor- 


60 John of Salisbury 


rect. lor being, as we said above, the public power, he draws 
from the strength of all, and, in order that his own strength 
may not fail, he should accordingly take care to preserve 
the soundness of all the members. For as many offices and 
stations of duty as there are in the administration of a prince’s 
government, so many are the members as it were of the prince’s 
body. Therefore, in preserving each office in unimpaired in- 
tegrity of strength and purity of reputation, he is preserving © 
as it were the health and reputation of his own members. But 
when through the negligence or concealment of the prince as 
regards the members there is loss of strength or good reputa- 
tion, then diseases and blemishes come upon his own members. 
Nor does the well-being of the head long continue when sick- 
ness attacks the members. 


Here ends the Fourth Book. 


| _ Here begins 
THE FIFTH BOOK 


HEREIN OF THE COMMONWEALTH 
(TS MEMBERS, AND ESPECIALLY 
THE ADMINISTRATION 
mor ,USTICE) % 


Perron LER I 
OF PLUTARCH’S LETTER FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF TRAJAN. 


There is extant a letter of Plutarch, written for the instruc- 
tion of Trajan, which expounds the meaning of one sort of 
political constitution. It is said to run in this wise: “Plutarch 
to Trajan sends greetings. I know that your modesty did not 
seek the principate, which, however, you have always striven to 
deserve by the correctness of your life. You will in fact be 
esteemed all the more worthy of honor in proportion as you 
are seen to be the more free from the charge of ambition. I 
therefore congratulate your virtue and my own good fortune 
if you rightly discharge the office which you have merited by 
your uprightness. However, I doubt not that you will be sub- 
ject to many perils, and I to the tongues of detractors, since 
on the one hand Rome will not tolerate the weaknesses of em- 
perors, and on the other public gossip is always wont to cast 
back the faults of pupils upon their teachers. Thus the tongues 
of detractors carp at Seneca because of the deserts of his pupil 
Nero, the wildness of Quintilian’s young charges is cast back 
upor him, and Socrates is blamed for having been too lenient 
toward his famous pupil. You, however, will perform the 
tasks to which you set yourself with all correctness if you do 
not become untrue to yourself. If you first put your own self 
in order and dispose everything about you wholly to virtue, all 
will go well for you. I have composed for you an exposition 
of the strength of the political constitution of our ancestors. 
If you follow it, you will take Plutarch as the guide of your 
life. If otherwise, I call this letter to witness that if you pro- 


ceed to ruin the empire Plutarch will not be the cause thereof.” 
63 


CHAP T Eb kaaa 


WHAT A COMMONWEALTH IS, ACCORDING TO PLUTARCH, AND 


WHAT FILLS THEREIN THE PLACE OF THE SOUL AND THE — 


MEMBERS. 


The above-mentioned letter is followed by the different head- 
ings of this political constitution, set forth in a little treatise 
entitled “The Instruction of Trajan,’ which I mean to insert 
in part in the present work, but in such wise as to follow rather 
the general trend of the ideas than the actual sequence of the 
words. The prince is first of all to make a thorough survey 
of himself, and diligently study the condition of the whole body 
of the commonwealth of which he is the representative, and in 
whose place he stands. A commonwealth, according to Plu- 
tarch, is a certain body which is endowed with life by the bene- 
fit of divine favor, which acts at the prompting of the highest 
equity, and is ruled by what may be called the moderating power 
of reason. Those things which establish and implant in us 
the practice of religion, and transmit to us the worship of God 
(here I do not follow Plutarch, who says “of the Gods”) fill 
the place of the soul in the body of the commonwealth. And 
therefore those who preside over the practice of religion should 
be looked up to and venerated as the soul of the body. For who 
doubts that the ministers of God’s holiness are His representa- 
tives? Furthermore, since the soul is, as it were, the prince 
of the body, and has rulership over the whole thereof, so those 
whom our author calls the prefects of religion preside over 
the entire body. Augustus Caesar was to such a degree sub- 
ject to the priestly power of the pontiffs that in order to set 

64 


Peer arecus Vs 2 65 


himself free from this subjection and have no one at all over 
him, he caused himself to be created a pontiff of Vesta, and 
thereafter had himself promoted to be one of the gods during 
his own life-time. The place of the head in the body of 
the commonwealth is filled by the prince, who is subject only 
to God and to those who exercise His office and represent Him 
on earth, even as in the human body the head is quickened 
and governed by the soul. The place of the heart is filled by 
the Senate, from which proceeds the initiation of good works 
and ill. The duties of eyes, ears, and tongue are claimed by 
the judges and the governors of provinces. Officials and sol- 
diers correspond to the hands. Those who always attend’ upon 
the prince are likened to the sides. Financial officers and 
keepers? (I speak now not of those who are in charge of the 
prisons, but of those who are keepers of the privy chest) may 
be compared with the stomach and intestines, which, if they 
become congested through excessive avidity, and retain too 
tenaciously their accumulations, generate innumerable and in- 
curable diseases, so that through their ailment the whole body 
is threatened with destruction. The husbandmen correspond 
to the feet, which always cleave to the soil, and need the more 
especially the care and foresight of the head, since while they 
walk upon the earth doing service with their bodies, they meet 
the more often with stones of stumbling, and therefore de- 
serve aid and protection all the more justly since it is they who 
raise, sustain, and move forward the weight of the entire body. 
Take away the support of the feet from the strongest body, and 
it cannot move forward by its own power, but must creep pain- 
fully and shamefully on its hands, or else be moved by means 
of brute animals. Our author after his fashion lays down 
many things of this kind, which he elaborates at great pains 
and with a treatment which is rather diffuse, all tending to com- 


1 This word, while not a translation, serves to reproduce the effect of 
the double meaning of “commentarienses.” 


66 John of Salisbury 


plete the conception of the commonwealth for the instruction 
of magistrates; but to follow him verbatim into these details 
would belong to that servile kind of interpretation which seeks 
rather to expound the surface than the sinews of an author. 
And because much that he has to say concerning ceremonies 
and the worship of the gods, wherein he thought that a religious 
prince should be deeply indoctrinated, is treated from the stand- 
point of superstition, I shall omit the things which pertain to 
the cult of idolatry, and briefly summarize the meaning of the 
man insofar as he sought to shape the prince and the offices 
of the commonwealth to the practice of justice. 


ere Pee Rr 


WHAT THINGS ARE CHIEFLY EMPHASIZED IN PLUTARCH’S DE- 
SIGN; AND CONCERNING THE REVERENCE WHICH IS TO 
BE SHOWN TO GOD AND TO SACRED THINGS. 


In summary, then, there are four things which he strives to 
inculcate in the rulers of a commonwealth: reverence for God, 
self-training, the need for learning on the part of officials and 
rulers, and for winning the affection of subjects and giving them 
protection. First of all he asserts that God is to be honored; 
then that each man is to train and cultivate himself to the 
end that, according to the saying of the Apostle (although of 
course he does not know the Apostle), each may possess his 
own vessel in sanctification and honor; afterwards that the 
learning of the whole house should savor of the learning of its 
head; and finally that the whole corporate community of sub- 
jects should have cause for rejoicing in the preservation and 
safety of the life of its rulers. He cites examples of the strat- 
egies and stratagems of famous men, which, if I were to insert 
them one by one, would prove tedious for the reader, and 
might in part even reflect on the sincerity of my own faith. 
However, since the holy fathers and the laws of princes seem 
to follow in the same track, although of course without the taint 
of his infidelity, let me touch on his doctrine briefly and in 
catholic language, adding a part of his stratagems. 

His point of departure is from reverence for supernatural 
beings; ours is from God, who is to be loved by all men alike 
and worshipped with all their heart, and all their soul, and all 
their strength. The proof of love is the works which it shows 

67 . 


68 John of Salisbury 


forth; and though He can be loved for Himself and directly, 
after the manner of one who pours out his soul to his beloved 
without the need of any medium, nevertheless for external 
worship the intervention of something intermediate is necessary, 
since no one has ever seen God. Of course you can apply 
the term “seeing” in an enlarged meaning to describe all the 
senses of both kinds, because no man can see God presently 
and directly and still live, except with that part of his senses — 
which is not restricted by bodily limitations and is not sensible 
of the lapse of time, but lives and endures through His grace 
for all eternity; I speak of Christian love, which is not dimin- 
ished, but increases in proportion as it draws into nearer inti- 
macy and closeness to the object which it desires. As for 
faith, it wears a veil, and hope defers its joy and sets its de- 
sire in the future, with the incentive of grace and merit sooth- 
ing present consciousness. Therefore, while faith and hope 
resemble a kind of sense, they nevertheless subsist and work 
on this side of the great divide, and as temporary expedients, 
working as through a glass darkly, and in a kind of enigma, 
until their nature shall be changed and the substance of the 
truth shall illuminate them in all its fulness. But one who can- 
not be clearly seen by sense, cannot easily be known; and that 
which is not known cannot be diligently worshipped save through 
a medium or symbol. Wherefore we read that Numa Pompil- 
ius introduced among the Romans certain ceremonies and sac- 
rifices, to the end that under the pretence of immortal gods 
he might the more easily induce them to cultivate piety, re- 
ligion, good faith and the other things which he wished to 
make known to them. This is attested by the shield which 
was said to have fallen from Heaven, and by the Palladium, 
both regarded as sacred pledges of imperial power; by two- 
faced Janus, the arbiter of war and peace; and by the hearth 
of Vesta, sacred to virgins, whereon, in honor of the stars of 
heaven, the flame that guarded the empire burned forever 


Polycraticus V. 3 69 


watchfully. To the same end the year was expanded into 
twelve months, decked out with a variety of “lawful” and “un- 
lawful’ days, and there were pontiffs, augurs, and various 
schools of priests, all to curb the barbarism of the people, re- 
strain them from wrong-doing, and cause them to keep a holi- 
day from arms, cultivate justice, and steadily train themselves 
in civic affection toward one another; and he did in fact so 
succeed in taming that fierce people, that the empire which they 
had seized, as it is said, by violence and wrong, they gov- 
erned happily by the laws of justice and piety. But why 
should I put forward the example of Numa, when the fathers 
of our own faith likewise assert that the sacrifices and -cere- 
monies of the old law! were instituted lest the people, becoming 
captivated by the worship of demons, should unlearn the prac- 
tice of the true religion, burning their sacrifices to demons after 
the manner of the gentiles, and not to God? 

God is worshipped, therefore, either by affection, which is a 
disposition of the mind, or by the display of works. The dis- 
position of affection or love touches Him directly, though He 
cannot be fully comprehended by means of any sense of the 
body or even of the soul, so long as it sojourns abroad from 
Him, and while the mind is weighed down under the burden 
of the body; but certainly He is loved the more ardently, and 
sought the more zealously, in proportion as His loftiness, and 
the immensity of His riches, power, and wisdom, exceeds all 
understanding; yet, even so, with His goodness and power He 
so envelops, penetrates, fills and protects every creature, that 
He cannot remain altogether hidden from any creature that 
is rational. Even those which are irrational bear witness that 
He is, and what He is, and how great He is, by numerous signs 
and tokens. And so ina wonderful way He gives knowledge of 
himself while taking it away; and takes it away while giving it; 


1j,e, under Judaism. 


70 John of Sativsomwry 


and according to the measure of His own good pleasure so 
works in different indviduals that, while He is without in- 
crease or abatement, He yet seems to be more present or less 
present in one or another as respects grace, although not of 
course as respects His essence, wherewith He fills every crea- 
ture equally and uniformly. For that He can exist in complete 
union is fully proved in the instance, though it be the only — 
one, of His only-begotten son of the Virgin. And so He is now 
one thing in one man, another in another, but as it is written, 
will be all in all to His elect. And just as the nature of the 
sun’s heat, to use an unequal comparison, for nothing can be 
compared to Him on equal terms, produces different effects in 
different bodies because of their diversity, so His nature, if it 
is permissible to compare great things with the greatest of all, 
shines forth in manifold ways in many men. Thus if a ray 
of the sun chances to fall on a carbuncle, it emerges or is re- 
flected with a red color, which reddens the surrounding air. 
The same ray becomes green in a smaragdus, and is colored 
to the clearest azure in a sapphire. The facets of a jacinth lend 
it their hue. In a topaz, which is the more precious as it is the 
more rare, it glories proudly in the color of almost all things. 
If you hold up Yris before it, it will reflect the image of Thau- 
mantias. Cast upon water, it passes in undulations across the 
ceiling, and, transmitted through the beryl, it imprints the fire 
of heaven upon what lies beneath. You see, then, how many 
different things a ray can be, in different objects. In the same 
way, prudence is in some, fortitude in others, in still others 
temperance, or justice, or faith, and, in others again, long- 
suffering hope; in some is the ardor of love, in others endur- 
ance of labor, here consolation for grief, there perseverance 
in good works; all of which separate qualities in separate indi- 
viduals are yet but one and the same God. But, in time to 
come, when through His grace we shall look upon Him face 
to face, and see Him as He is, then He will be all in all; and 


Porrecratrcus V3 71 


then none shall lack for his blessedness the substance of any 
virtue, since He will be the fulness of virtue in all, and the 
sum of beatitude; to such a degree that according to the tradi- 
tion of the fathers, He will appear to His elect m such fulness 
of majesty that they shall lack nothing of any grace, and He 
alone shall be visible in them, and they shall be reckoned in 
His name, their true substance being preserved entire and 
without any changefulness of nature. This is perhaps the 
meaning of the saying, “The sanctified shall exult in glory, 
they shall rejoice in the beds”; ? for then the hearts of the sanc- 
tified shall be open to one another, and each shall glory not only 
in his.own consciousness but in the consciousness of all.’ For 
just as fire, to use the same simile which we have already used, 
penetrates the nature of iron and heats it till nought is seen 
therein save fire; and just as when a ray of the sun shines 
upon copper, the copper is accounted as the sun or a ray thereof ; 
in the same way God will so fill all the elect that, all infirmity 
and mutability having been removed from them, and the mortal 
having put on immortality, and the corruptible incorruptibility, 
God alone shall be seen and known in all. By this opinion some 
explain the fact that in spite of the general rule that it is never 
permissible for one creature to be adored by another, yet the 
angels, who already participate in the blessedness which is re- 
served for us in the future, are adored when seen of men, be- 
cause in them a certain actual presence of the Deity is visible. 
Thus too in the face of the Saviour something of Deity shone 
forth, when he made a scourge of cords and drove the buyers 
and sellers from the temple, thus showing that all transaction 
of business is to be banished from the house of prayer. But 
in other men, although the presence of Deity may be felt 
near at. hand, His fulness is never actually present, and yet 
cannot wholly be concealed. He is therefore marvellous in 


2 Ps, cxlix, 5. 


ee John of Salisbury 


every manifestation of majesty, venerable in every manifesta- 
tion of wisdom, lovable in every manifestation of goodness, 
and this worship the faithful creature can pay to him without 
the intervention of any intermediary. What more is needful 
than this, that we honor, venerate, and love Him? For these 
three form a three-fold cord between Creator and creature, 
~ which cannot easily be broken. But strongest of all is the - 
strength of love. Truly, Christian love never passes away, 
wherewith if a man clings to God, he is united to Him and 
becomes one spirit with Him; and he who is thus united to 
Him so as to become one in spirit, becomes a servant of His 
household, and can in no wise be kept from obedience to Him, 
which is a thing of the spirit. But the worship which consists 
in the display of external works requires a medium; in as much 
as no bodily approach to the spirit is accessible to us, as was 
plainly taught by Him who, in the case of the woman of 
Samaria, said for the instruction of the Church, “God is a 
spirit, and they that would worship Him must worship in spirit 
and in truth.’? In order, however, to provide a way whereby 
the weakness of our humility may ascend to His throne, and 
have some ground for merit, He who endowed us with senses 
has wished to be worshipped with the senses; and He who will 
glorify both soul and body demands the faithful service of 
both. He also desires to be worshipped with the body to the 
end that the tardiness of unfaithfulness or negligence may have 
nought wherewith to excuse itself. 


8 John ix, 24. 


Cees oOP TER io LV 


OF REVERENCE FOR PERSONS AND THINGS; AND IN WHAT WAYS 
A PERSON MAY BE WORTHY OF REVERENCE. 


The reverence which is paid with the body is directed either 
toward persons or things. The reasons for reverencing per- 
sons proceed either from nature, or from office, or from char- 
acter, or from rank, or from fortune, Nature causes us to 
honor our parents and our children and those who are joined to 
us by ties of flesh and blood, as for instance wife, relatives, and 
connections. This precept is received in the law of nations be- 
cause it is followed among all nations alike. We are also 
urged to the same effect by the divine law, for we know that it 
is written, “Honor thy father and thy mother that thou mayest 
have long life on earth”;* and again, “He that curseth father 
or mother shall surely be put to death.” * It was hardly needful 
to issue such a command in regard to children, since no one 
hates his own flesh; nor in regard to the wife, on whose account 
a man leaves father and mother, cleaving to his wife, so 
that the twain become one flesh. But commandments on this 
point are not lacking in the divine law, although because of 
the strong incentive supplied by nature, they are comparatively 
infrequent; and the same commandments are extended to 
relatives and connections, as nature herself enjoins. 

Office is the duty of doing the acts which laws or morals 
enjoin upon a given individual. Its function is to bring dif- 
ferent acts into harmony by allotting them to the different in- 


a, OK, 12. 2X exh 17; 
73 


TA John of Saltstas 


dividuals to whom they are appropriate. Among the duties 
which are thus to be performed some have a public bearing, 
others relate to the private status of individuals. From this 
it is clear that some duties or offices are conveniently called pub- 


lic, others private. Of those which are private there is al-— 


most as great a multiplicity as there are different kinds of 


persons. Public offices on the other hand can all be referred - 


to two kinds: for they have their origin either from divine 
law or human law. These things are explained at large in 
the books of offices, but they are pertinent in the present con- 
nection because of the fact that reverence is paid to public 
offices. It is due to them in proportion to the relative eminence 
of each magistracy. This, in turn, is the result of, and is in- 
dicated by, the extent of the jurisdictional competence of each, 
for the reverence or contempt which is shown to magistrates re- 
dounds to the honor or disgrace of all those who are subject 
to them. Wherefore in the ordinances of princes and the edicts 
or promulgations of magistrates the plural number is used by 
prolemsis, to the end that every ordinance or other kind of 
promulgation may be seen to be the act not so much of the 
officer personally as of the corporate community. This is 
well-known from daily usage even to one who is ignorant of 
the laws or canons. The rationale of duty or office is devel- 
oped further not merely in the enactments of the canons and 
laws but also in the precepts of all the ethical writers. 
Character is a cast of mind from which a habitual series 
of particular acts proceed. For if an. act is done once. 
oftener, it does not immediately become a part of character, 
unless by being done steadily it passes into usage. Usage in- 
cludes both virtues and vices, although the vices are not gen- 
erally reckoned as character (for the latter term may also 
be translated “morals”), to which the vices are usually set in 
opposition. From the latter fact it is plain that only the virtues 
are included under the name of. morals, or character, although 


Policraticus V 4 75 


sometimes we speak of “good” and “bad” morals to distin- 
guish the vices and virtues. Thus we use the term in its good 
sense when we speak of “moral” people, or people of “charac- 
ter,” while we also derive from it the word ‘‘morose,” which 
we use to describe a kind of vice. This shows that the name 
signifies abundance, although it never happens that there is a 
surfeit of “morals” in any person in the flesh, while on the other 
hand many possess a stiperfluity of vices. When, therefore, 
we say that anyone acquires reverence by reason of his charac- 
ter or morals, we mean that he has virtues which deserve to 
be honored. For who ought not to revere and respect the 
man whom he supposes to be wise, brave, temperate, and 
just? Hence it is the counsel of wisdom for the man who 
desires to be esteemed, loved, honored and advanced, that he 
should honor, love, and revere God, and submit to Him with 
entire devotion. 

Rank is defined as the accidental status of a person, as for 
instance whether he is sunk in adversity or raised aloft by pros- 
perity. It is the stamp which evidences on its face that his 
lot is one or the other. This is the ground on which we honor 
men who are free-born, while on others we cast the reproach 
of slavery. So likewise we respect the wealth of some men 
and despise the poverty of others. 

Tully says that it is difficult to define nature. To define 
fortune is I think even more difficult, because, while the former 
has some substance, the latter has none. Nature provides the 
source and origin of things; which would be impossible if she 
herself did not actually exist. For what is altogether non- 
existent cannot supply existence to something else. But since 
fortune does not exist, it cannot be defined. Because it is non- 
existent, it is not possible for anyone to determine wherein it 
consists. 


8 Cic., de Invent., i, 24 § 34. 


76 John of Salisbury 


At this point, however, the Epicureans come forward with 
their doctrines to which they give the name of “master teach- 
ings,’ and to which they claim that all philosophy must yield 
obedience; and, after their fashion, they make all things sub- 
ject to fortune. J think that herein, as on so many other 
points, it is worth our while to hear the opinion of Plutarch. 


He says that the blind goddess ought not to be worshipped, for _ 


she cannot, after all, be worshipped except by the blind. And 
he cites many examples to demonstrate that all who have wor- 
shipped her have been made blind themselves and have been 
hurried straightway into the pit of destruction. Galba is one 
instance, who having lived admirably for a whole life-time and 
well into old age, was then through his service of this goddess 
and her worship suddenly exalted for a brief space and even 
more suddenly cast down. For the manner of it, look into 
Suetonius. Yet the same philosopher complains in the ear of 
the aforesaid prince, and tearfully laments, that this goddess, so 
infected with the taint of blind and heedless rashness, and so 
shameful to all other divinities, has polluted the temples of all 
the Gods and stolen away their worshippers to such an extent 
that, in addition to the private sanctuaries which she has every- 
where throughout the City and the world, she has even seized a 
post on the Tarpeian rock on the same footing with supreme 
Jove; and a golden image of “Fortuna Publica’ is publicly 
adored in the Capitol by strangers, pilgrims, and natives; and 
has such authority beyond all other gods that in the general 
account-book of mortals, as the saying is, she alone seems to fill 
up both pages. You can see her there turning her revolving 
wheel ; and, what is more to be marvelled at, with a turn of that 
wheel she dashes down and crushes the thread of the three sis- 
ters which is woven from the breast of Jove; for whosoever sets 
up fortune, plucks down fate. ‘Fate,’ says the Stoic, “rules 
over men; fate is in those places which are hidden in secret.” * 


PA Vi AR 32. aa 


etl 


Policraticus V 4 77 


Against this paradox the “master teachings” of Epicurus 
protest. “Away with the necessity of fate,” he says, because 
“Tf fortune wills it, a consul will be made from a rhetorician ; 
if the same power wills, a rhetorician will be made from a 
consul.” ° 

However, not to treat further of fortune, there may indeed 
be a form of unforeseen events, and though this may seem to 
some to resemble very closely what we have called “rank,” 
because a man’s status, to which we applied that term, may be 
determined by a coincidence of accidental circumstances, still 
there is this important difference, namely that rank results in 
some cases from nature, in others from office, in others again 
from a man’s morals or character; and only in the remaining 
cases does it spring from the chance of events, while fortune al- 
ways consists in things which emerge unforeseen. Plutarch 
seeks to eliminate it entirely, and from the preceding four 
sources, to wit nature, office, character, and rank, derives the ori- 
gin of all reverence. Nevertheless, on this point he develops his 
argument on somewhat superstitious lines, after the manner of 
pagans. I have thought fit to insert some of his ideas, however, 
expressing them in Catholic sense and language. He asserts that 
in the worship of the gods those are above all to be included who 
come closest and nearest to them™ either because of their 
nature, as Liber who conquered India, or Hercules who showed 
that he had Jove in him by strangling snakes in his cradle; or 
because of their office, as priests and prefects of sacred things ; 
or because of their character, as philosophers who by investi- 
gation and the gift of wisdom prove that they have drunk 
deeply from the fountain of the divine mind; or by reason of 
their rank, as those who have been exalted by the favor of 


5 Juv. vii, 197, 198. 
5¢To make this passage intelligible, it seems to me necessary to read 
“eis” for Als aed 


78 John of Salisbury 


heaven to be over others, rather for some personal reason than 
because of their public office. 

This language is indeed that of an infidel, and worthy of 
execration; nor is the sense of the words such as befits a phi- 
losopher. But perchance he did not dare express his real opin- 
ion concerning the nature of the gods in the ears of a corrupt 
people, having read how the books of the philosopher Pitagoras 
had been burned, and he himself driven into exile by the 
Athenians, because he had expressed a doubt whether those 
things which were commonly told regarding the gods were true. 
Why then should he be so rash as directly to assert the con- 
trary, when he knew that even a doubt of their correctness had 
not gone unpunished? It is therefore likely that he adapted his 
style to his hearers, and in order that he might persuade them 
to give up unpermitted things, indulged them somewhat in their 
errors. For in moral doctrine he is unimpeachable. And in 
this opinion I acquiesce the more readily, since even the Apostle 
of the gentiles, while preserving his faith and religion intact, 
yet became all things to all men to the end that he might win 
all.6 We, however, who have been enlightened by the Truth’ 
from heaven, believe that reverence is to be shown to the min- 
isters and friends not of “gods,” who we know are nothing, but 
of the true God; and even at times to His foes also, since this 
is enjoined by God Himself, who often for the purification of 
His people has conferred power on the worst of men. Whence 
the command, “Be subject to every human creature on account 
of God, whether to the king as holding supreme power, or to 
other magistrates, as being sent by Him for vengeance on evil- 
doers and the reward of the just.”* And the other command, 
“Slaves, be in subjection to your masters, not only to those 
who are good and gentle, but also to those who are froward.” * 

We become friends of God either through grace, without 


Gr Cory ix, 22, TT Petia 8y Pet. ti, 18. 


Policraticus V 4 79 


the operation of merit, like Jeremiah and John, who were sanc- 
tified before they were born, and like that gem of the priest- 
hood, Nicholas, who while still in the cradle kept fast on the 
fourth day and the sixth day, on those days suckling only once; 
or through the merits of grace, like those who win the kingdom 
of Heaven by the easy road of good works, as did the penitent 
thief, or by a difficult and happy death, like the choir of the 


apostles and martyrs. These three classes were indicated by 
Maro: 


“Easy is the descent into Avernus; 
Night and day stands open the gate of gloomy Dis; 
But to climb the steep ascent again and regain the upper air, 
This requires toil and labor; few have attained thereto, 
And those the favorites of just Jove, or they that 
Were exalted to the skies by the ardor of their virtue, 
Or else were born of gods.” ® 


Those, then, whom we see conforming by the propriety of 
their life to the divine goodness, we ought to revere as the 
truest and most faithful image of God. 

God’s ministers are they that have been called by the divine 
governance to procure the salvation of themselves and others 
by rooting out and correcting vices, or by implanting and in- 
creasing the virtues. But those who minister to Him in the 
sphere of human law are as much inferior to those who minister 
in divine law as things human are below things divine. 


9 Verg., Aen. vi, 126 ff. 


CH AP oR Rey 


WHAT PUNISHMENT IS THREATENED AGAINST THOSE WHO 
COMMIT INJURIES AGAINST MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH 
AND AGAINST SACRED PLACES; AND THAT ABSOLUTION 
CANNOT BE EXTORTED BY FORCE, NOR PURLOINED BY FRAUD. 


In the persons of those who administer the divine laws, God 
is honored or brought into contempt more than in the case of 
others because He regards their honor or dishonor as His own. 
Hence the scripture, “I said, Ye are Gods”’;* and again “The 
lips of the priest keep knowledge, and from his mouth they seek 
the law because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.” ? 
Also the Gospel says, ““Who hears you, hears me; who receives 
you, receives me; and who rejects you, rejects Him that sent 
me’’;* and again, “Who touches you, touches the pupil of my 
everna: 

The reverence which is to be shown to things is of many 
different kinds. For things are either corporeal, as shrines, and 
sacred places, and things dedicated to pious uses, and sacrifices 
performed visibly ; or else incorporeal, as the laws which apply 
to sacred things, and disregard whereof is a sacrilege to be 
expiated by death or some other punishment of the severest 
kind, proportioned to the gravity of the offence. Therefore, 
to outrage the immunities of sacred things is to rebel against 
God Himself, and as it were condemn Him to slavery. And 
surely many arguments founded on the divine law could be 

1 Ps. Ixxxi, 6. 2 Mal. ii, 7. 8 Luke x, 16; Math. x, 40. 


a Fachontso. 
80 


Policraticus V 5 81 


brought forward in support of its provisions, but to prevent the 
audacity of a rival power from gainsaying it, the statutes of 


princes on this point are of broad and generous application, 


embodying reverence and approval of the Christian faith, and 
confirming in their entirety the privileges of churches, priests 
and all sacred places. For who has not heard of the ordinance 
of the prince whose memory is forever blessed—I speak of 


_ Archadius?® “If anyone has broken out into this species of 


sacrilege, namely of entering Catholic churches by force, and 
committing outrage against the ministers and priests, or in 


the sacred place itself, let notice be taken of the act by the 


rulers of the province, and let the governor of the province know 
that such injury to priests and ministers of the Catholic Church, 
and to the place which is theirs, and to the worship of God, 
must be punished by sentence of death upon those who are 
convicted thereof or who confess the crime. Nor let him wait 


until the punishment of the injury is demanded by the bishop, 
- to whom is rather left the holy glory of pardon and forgiveness, 


but let it be a praiseworthy act for all or any to track down 


atrocities against priests or ministers as a public crime and ac- 


quire merit by taking vengeance therefor.”° And _ likewise, 
“Tt pleases our mercy that the clergy shall have nought to do 
with proceedings at law or those which pertain to our court, 
to the body whereof they are not attached.”* And elsewhere, 
“Tf the privileges of any holy church shall have been violated 


_ by audacity or neglected by dissimulation, let the offence be pun- 


v4 


ished by a fine of five pounds of gold.” * The nature of these 
privileges of churches and holy places and ministers is made 
clearly known by the law both divine and human, although it 
is now obvious from usage that they can only be determined be- 


fore ecclesiastical judges; and if anyone lays violent hands on 


_ one of the clergy, he is to be punished by anathema which none 


5 Justin, Cod., i, 3, § 10. 6 Justin, Cod., i, 3, § 10. 
Pyustin, Cod., i, 3, § 17. 8 Justin, Cod., i, 3, § 13. 


82 John of Saltsvanr@ 


save the Roman pontiff has power to absolve.® It is vain to seek 
from any other source remission of this crime unless perchance 
the very article of death is imminent, because absolution cannot 
be extorted by force or purloined by fraud. According to 
Claudian, Theodosius says: | 


“You cannot extort love by force; 
It is the gift of mutual faith, and simple favor.” 1° 


The reason why it is not possible to extort absolution is because 
it is earned only by contrition of heart, confession of the lips, 
and satisfaction by works. Clearly not force, but grace alone 
can atone for impiety; and fraud will not profit the sinner, 
because the Holy Spirit abhors a feigned obedience and will 
not dwell in a body subjected to sin. Elsewhere I remember 
to have said (on the authority of the great father Augustine) 
that simulated innocence is not innocence at all, but a double of- 
fence, because there is both the offence itself and the dissimula- 
tion. So too pretended equity is not equity, but double iniquity, 
because there is both the iniquity and the pretence. I am there- 
fore confounded with amazement beyond measure when I so 
often see men, whom I do not know whether to count as Chris- 
tians or as infidels, striving with all their might, when detected 
in some sacrilege of this kind, to compel priests by means of 
threats and terrors to grant them absolution, which the ones 
cannot honestly give nor the others in their hardness of 
heart receive with any real profit to themselves. Surely it is 
easier for both to become involved than for either of them to 
be extricated. Which of the two should be blamed the more 
severely, it would not be easy for me to say. So much con- 
cerning those who in Plutarch’s political constitution fill the 
place of the soul in the commonwealth. 


9Lat. Council of 1139, c. 15. in Gratian, ed. Friedberg, Corp. Jur. 
Gani. he2: 
1077 Cons. Honor., 282, 3. 


reneb RV I 


CONCERNING THE PRINCE, WHO IS THE HEAD OF THE COMMON- 
WEALTH, AND OF HIS ELECTION AND PRIVILEGES; AND 


4 CONCERNING THE RECOMPENSE OF VIRTUE AND GUILT: 


AND THAT BLESSED JOB SHOULD BE IMITATED, AND CON- 
CERNING THE VIRTUES OF BLESSED JOB. 


Following in the footsteps of our author, we come next to 
consider the members of the commonwealth. It has been said 
that. the prince holds the place of the head, and is guided solely 


_ by the judgment of his own mind. And so, as has been said, 
he is placed by the divine governance at the apex of the com- 
monwealth, and preferred above all others, sometimes through 


the secret ministry of God’s providence, sometimes by the de- 
cision of His priests, and again it is the votes of the whole 


_ people which concur to place the ruler in authority. Where- 


fore we read in the Old Testament that Moyses, when about 
to ordain him who should have authority over the people, 
called together the whole synagogue to the end that he might 
be chosen in the presence of the people, so that afterwards 


no man might have ground for retraction, and no least scruple 


of uncertainty might remain to cloud his title. We read in the 


Book of Kings that Saul, when about to be made king, appeared 


; before the face of the people, and was lifted up on their shoul- 


ders, above the whole people. Why so, I ask, if not because 


he that is to be over others ought in heart and countenance 


a ea ea ia a 


to show that he has strength sufficient to embrace as it were 
the breadth of the whole people in the arms of his good works, 
83 


84 John of Salisbury 


and to protect them, as being more learned, more holy, more 
prudent, and more excellent in every virtue? For the Lord 
said unto Moyses: ‘Take unto thee Jesus the son of Nave, a 
man in whom is the spirit of God, and lay thy harids upon him, 
and set him before Eleazer the priest, and let him give him 
commandments in the sight of the whole synagogue; and thou 
shalt give instructions concerning him in their presence, and 
shalt put of thy honor upon him that the children of Israel 
may hear and obey him.” 1 Evidently we are here listening to 
the ordination of a prince of the people, described so clearly 
that it needs no explanation. If, however, you ask for one in 
yet plainer terms, I will explain it to you on the authority of the 
Lord if you will advise me at the proper time and place. and I 
will add the meaning of the robes and certain features of the 
ritual. But here is plainly no acclamation by the people, no 
argument or title founded upon ties of blood, no consideration 
accorded to family relationship. 

On the death of Salphaat, his daughters came before Moyses 
and claimed their father’s inheritance.2 God himself bears 
witness that their petition was a just one; for a man’s inher- 
itance of lands and estates is to be left to his relatives, and so 
far as possible, his public offices likewise. But governance 
of the people is to be handed over to him whom God has 
chosen, to wit to such a man as has in him the spirit of God, 
and the commandments of God are in his sight, who is well 
known and familiar to Moyses, that is to say a man in whom 
is honor and knowledge of the law, so that the children of 
Israel may hearken unto him. Nevertheless it is not right to 
pass over, in favor of new men, the blood of princes, who are 
entitled by the divine promise and the right of family to be 
succeeded by their own children provided that, as has been said 
above, they have walked in the judgments of the Lord. But 


1 Num. xxvii, 18. 2Num, xxvii, I-6. 


Pelicraticus V6 85 


if they have departed, little by little, from the way, even so it 
is not well to overthrow them utterly at once, but rather to 
‘rebuke injustice with patient reproof until finally it becomes 
obvious that they are stiff-necked in evil-doing. Roboam was 
not immediately expelled from his father’s throne when he 
spurned the counsel of the old men, and, departing from the way 
of Salomon, sought to place an unsupportable burden on the 
backs of the children of Israel. But his kingdom was split in 
twain by the withdrawal of the ten tribes who followed Jero- 
boam the servant of Salomon, and the kingdom were divided, 
Juda having one kingdom and Israel the other.* Thus he was 
made to feel at one and the same time punishment for his stub- 
bornness, and the mercy which flowed from the grace of God 
and the privilege of blood, for he remained king, but with a 
great part of his kingdom cut off. Wherefore did this befall 
him? Because he adhered to the counsels of young men, scorn- 
ing the ways and precepts of prudence. For it is impossible 
to administer princely power wholesomely if the prince does 
not act on the counsel of wise men. “Woe to the land,” says 
the scripture, “whose king is a boy and whose counsellors 
feast in the morning; happy the land whose king is of noble 
blood and whose chief men eat in due season, for nourishment, 
and not for luxury”;* for in the former there can be no wis- 
dom. From this point hear holy Job:° “Where shall wisdom 
be found, and where is the place of understanding? Man 
knoweth not the value thereof, neither is it found in the land 
of those who live pleasantly.” Nought that perishes may be 
compared with it, for wisdom is drawn from secret places. It 
would have been better far for Roboam, had he driven the young 
men from him, following the counsels of the elders and keeping 
the life of blessed Job ever before him as a pattern and model 
for ruling. For hear what Job tells of himself: ® “When I 


8] Kings xii, 13. *Eccles, x, II-12. 
5 Job xxviii, 12-13. 8 Job xxix, 7 ff, 


86 John of Salisbury 


went forth unto the gate of the city and they prepared a seat 
for me in the street, the young men looked upon me and hid © 
themselves away, but the elders rose up and stood; the chief 
men ceased from speaking and placed a finger on their lips; 
the leaders hushed their voice, and their tongue cleaved to the 
roof of their mouth. The ear that heard me blessed me, and 
the eye that saw me gave witness unto me, because I set free — 
the poor man that cried, and the orphan that had none to aid © 
him. The blessing of him that was about to perish came upon 
me, and I comforted the heart of the widow. I clothed myself 
with justice, and I garbed myself with judgment as with a 
robe and diadem. I was an eye for the blind and a foot for 
the lame. I was a father to the poor, and diligently inquired 
into the case which I did not understand. I brake the jaws of 
the unjust man and from his teeth I bore away his prey. And 
I said: ‘I shall die in my nest, and like the palm tree I shall 
multiply my days. My root is opened to the waters, and the 
dew shall linger in my harvest; my glory shall always be re- ~ 
newed and my bow shall be repaired in my hand.’ Those who 
heard me awaited my opinion, and kept silent, attentive to my 
counsel. They dared not add to my words, and my speech dis- 
tilled upon them. If at times I laughed in their presence, they — 
did not believe it, and the light of my countenance did not fall 
to the earth. If I had wished to go to them, my seat was the 
first; and when I had seated myself like a king with his army — 
standing round, I was the solace of them that mourned.” 
Here in the example of a just man is embodied in great part 
the formula of ruling. If we wished to follow it into its de- 
tails, the series of virtues which it enumerates would alone fill 
up a whole book. The diligent reader will weigh and analyze ~ 
each word, because in them all is no jot nor tittle which is not 
useful for understanding the mystery of salvation. I shall, | 
however, as briefly as I can, touch on a few points which stand 
out on the surface of the words, He says “When I washed my ~ 


Meerecr att cus 6 87 


feet in butter and the rock poured forth for me rivers of oil; 
when I sat me down in a chair prepared for me in the street, the 
young men went away and hid themselves but the elders stood 
about me.’ * Here he means to signify that affluence of 
earthly things and a combination of blessings did not banish his 
prudence, but its authority over him remained throughout un- 
shaken on the witness of his own conscience and of the good 
works which he did. He walked forth to the gate as one who 
needed not concealment; and as one who by his merits was 
entitled to the seat of instruction, he augmented the wisdom of 
the elders while youthful levity hid itself away. ‘The chief 
men ceased io speak and the tongue of the leaders cleaved 
to the roof of their mouth,’ as not having courage to speak 
of great themes and to place on the shoulders of men burdens 
too heavy to be borne, and such as are not wont to be touched 
with even the tip of the finger. For he taught that the sole 
excellence of virtue consists in action, and that the splendor ot 
the word is an empty thing if it is not supported by the solidity 
of the deed. ‘In all labor,” says Salomon, “there will be abun- 
dance, but where words are many, there frequently is penury.”’ § 
It is the place of the chief men and leaders to walk before others 
in the way of good morals, and show them the way, and not 
to declaim with inflated eloquence as to what others ought te 
do. ‘The ear that heard me and the eye that saw me blessed 
me.” Here he expresses elegantly the bodily instrumentalities 
whereon the soul’s power of perception chiefly depends; for the 
knowledge of external objects penetrates to the soul most ac- 
curately through the services of eye and ear, and too frequently 
the careless tongue scatters the treasures of the heart. In add- 
ing the words “which heard me” and “which saw me,” he ex- 
presses the judgment of a wise man according to the saying, 
“Happy the man who speaks into an ear that hears.” He does 


TJob xxix, 6, 7. 8 Proy, xiv, 23. 


88 Tohn of Salvsoama 


not say that he is made blessed by the tongues of men, which 
frequently move in either direction, as they chance to be im- 
pelled at one time by love or again by hate. Sufficient to him 
is the testimony of his own conscience, especially when it is 
confirmed by the judgment of the wise. The reason, he says, 
is “that I had set free the poor man, the orphan, and him that 


was about to perish; and because I consoled the heart of the _ 


widow.” For in such acts the nature of princely authority 
chiefly reveals itself, which was instituted by the Lord to ban- 
ish wrongs. For these are indeed works of mercy, and the 
name of him who does them will be blessed from age to age. 
But, that you may not suppose that he lent encouragement to 
vice by showing mercy too leniently, he says, “I was clothed in 
justice, and with my judgment as with a diadem; the cause 
which I did not understand I searched out diligently.” or it 
behooves a judge to lay open all things, and to analyze the rela- 
tion of facts with the fullest measure of investigation, and not 
to go against any one before the case has been most fully staked 
out by lawful reasons. For as the ethical writer says, “Speedy 
shall be the penitence of him whose judgment is speedy.” “I 
brake the jaws of the unjust man.” The unjust man is who- 
soever in legal proceedings seeks not his lawful right but plun- 
der; who so loves wealth that he exacts retribution. And 
though it is just that judgment should be given for the value, 
yet he who is a slave to avarice hurries to destruction. Whence 
it follows, “And from his teeth I plucked away his prey, and 
I said I shall die in my own nest’; for peace of mind belonged 
to him because he was content with the measure of his own pos- 
sessions. He was not spurred on by the goad of avarice or 
ambition to add house to house and fleld to field to the very 
boundaries of space as if he alone was destined to inhabit the 
entire surface of the earth.® 


9Tsa. v, 8 


Policraticus VO 89 


“And as the palm tree, I shall multiply my days.’ Aristotle 
in the seventh book of his Problems, and Plutarch in the eighth 
of his Memorabilia, tell a marvellous fact,'® to wit, that if you 
place great weights upon the trunk of a palm tree, and press 
and weigh it down so heavily that it cannot sustain the great- 
ness of the weight, still it does not bend nor bow downward, but 
rises up against the weight, and struggles upward, and rebounds. 
For this reason, says Plutarch, men chose the palm for the sym- 
bol of victory in contests, because it is the nature of this tree not 
to yield to hard and persistent pressure. It is also said that 
the branch of the palm tree which the Greeks call the “royal 
branch” cannot be torn out by pulling it downward, but gives 
way only if you pull it up. It is also well-known that the trunk 
or stock of the palm tree is narrowed at the root, but thickens in 
its upper parts. The opposite is true of all other trees, whose 
stock increases in size as it approaches nearer to the ground. 
The palm tree, therefore, signifies unconquerable justice, which 
knows not how to descend but only to rise to ever higher things. 
Hence the saying, “The just man shall flourish like the palm 
tree.” 14 

“My root is opened to the waters” (that is to say, the waters 
of the scriptures and virtues, mentioned above), “and the dew” 
(to wit, of grace) “shall linger in my harvest,’—namely of good 
works, whose sheaves the just judge shall treasure up in His 
bosom and repay unto the elect who shall come before Him on 
that day. 

Accordingly he continues, “My glory shall always be re- 
newed ; and my bow shall be repaired,” because, 


“There is that at which” the just man “bends and aims the bow,” 
nor does he “chase ravens at random with shards and mud.” !” 


“Those who heard me awaited my opinion,” and so forth. 
It is a common saying that an opinion is always to be re- 


10 Aulus Gellius iii, 6. 11 Ps, xci, 13. 12 Persius, Sat. iii, 60. 


90 John of Saltsbury 


ceived in good part, according to the proverb, “A sluggard is 
wiser in his own conceit than seven men rendering opinions.” * 


You hear him say that in a wise man three things concur. 
“They kept silent,” he says, “attentive to my council, they 


dared not add to my words, my speech distilled upon them.” 
Difficult matters demand attention, and it behooves a grave man 


to meditate his counsel, to the end that whatsoever he says, what- - 


soever he does, may be as counsel in the eyes of the man who 
is seeking after wisdom. Furthermore it is a mark of a cir- 
‘cumcised mouth to utter words to which nought may be added 
and from which nought may be taken away. It is a scandalous 
thing for a grave man continually to meddle in tales and trivial- 
ities, and to cackle among babblers like a noisy goose among 
swans, believing that one sort of matter is as good as another 
for a dispute: 


“What is the argument? Whether Castor or Docilis has more 


skill, 
Or the Numician or Appian road is the better way to Brun- 
disium ?” 14 


Besides, things which are plentiful are cheapened by their plenty, 
and much talking is not merely a sin, but the words of a man 
who speaks a few things wisely are of great price. Wherefore 
Socrates made answer to one who inquired of him how to at- 
tain the best reputation, that his deeds should be good and his 
words few. This is why the just man, fearing to offend in 
speaking, says that his speech distilled drop by drop; for al 
perfect man does not offend by his words. 

“Tf at times I laughed in their presence, they did not believe 
it.” Laughter is a mark of levity; and the more public it is, 
the more shameful and worthy of rebuke. For it is written, 
“The fool lifts up his voice in laughter’; 1° and it is recorded 


13 Prov. xxvi, 16. 14Hor., Ep. i, 18, ll. 19, 20. th Mech teas 


Polecyaticus V 6 on 


that the Saviour wept, but nowhere that he laughed. I should 
not readily believe that he was given to cackling, who speaks of 
his laughter so ambiguously that he says that they did not be- 
lieve that he laughed. 

“And the light of my countenance did not fall to the earth.” 
Perhaps the just man laughed, but no worldly nonsense relaxed 
him into mirth, and whatsoever was worldly in manners, feared 
his austere countenance. 

“Tiad I wished to go to them my seat was the first,’’ and 
surely he was worthy of the foremost seat who so far excelled 
others in the way of virtue. When he sat like a king in the 
midst of his attendants he wiped away the tears of them that 
mourned. This is indeed a pleasing conclusion, for it belongs 
to the public power ever to strive so to rule that in the whole 
corporate community over which it presides it will not suffer any 
to be sorrowful. As to the art by which this will come to pass, 
the moral field which is subject to its governance attains thereby 
to such pleasantness and abundance of fruits and flowers that if 
one enters therein he rejoices as though he were amid the de- 
lights of paradise. Perchance you wonder and are struck with 
amazement that any one in this exile of the flesh can be a par- 
taker of so much sweetness, and as it were a fellow-citizen with 
the citizens of heaven; but whether or not this can be, judge for 
yourself from the works of the just man. “If I have withheld 
from the poor their desire, and caused the eyes of the widow to 
wait ; if I have eaten my morsel alone, and the orphan hath not 
eaten thereof with me (for whom my youth compassion has 
erown up with me, and came forth with me from my mother’s 
womb) ; if I have despised the passer-by because he had no 
garment, and the poor man because he was without a covering ; 
if his sides have not blessed me and if he has not been warmed 
with the fleece of my sheep; if I have lifted up my hand against 
the orphan when I saw myself above him in the gate; then may 
my shoulder fall from its socket, and let my arm be broken with 


Q2 John. of Salisbury 


the bones thereof. -For I have ever feared God above me as a 
swelling wave, and I could not endure the weight thereof. If I 
have thought that gold was my strength and have said to the 
fine gold, ‘Thou art my trust’; if I have delighted because my 


wealth was great and because mine hand had gotten much; if I q 


have beheld the sun when it shined or the moon walking in 


brightness, and my heart rejoiced secretly, and I kissed my hand - ‘ 


with my mouth, which is the greatest wickedness, and a denial of 
God the Most High; if I rejoiced at the downfall of him that 
hated me and exulted because evil had found him; if the men of 
my tent have not said, “Who is it who would give us of his own 


flesh that we might be filled?’—nor hath the stranger lodged 


outside my gates, but my door has stood open to the wayfarer— $; 
if like a son of Adam I have concealed my sin and hidden mine 
iniquity in my bosom; if I have trembled at the sight of too 
great a multitude, and the scorn of my relatives has terrified 
me, and I have not rather kept silent, nor ventured out of doors; 
if my land cries out against me, and the furrows thereof weep 
with it; if I have eaten of the fruits thereof without payment 
and have caused the husbandmen to lose their life; then may my 
wheat grow up as thistles, and instead of my barley a thorn!” ** 

Do you not regard this man as indeed walking in the fulness 
of God’s delights, who out of a pure heart and with a clean 
conscience and with no pretended faith, confesses such things of 
himself under such awful imprecations? Who needs any inter- 
pretation of such words, or does not see clearly by the light of 
such virtues? He is dull indeed and a man of blunted intel- 
ligence to whom they do not explain themselves. Here are 
gathered into one many things, whereof each singly would suf- 
fice to illuminate a world. If princes scorn to read more or to 
hear more, let them at least read and give ear to this short pas- 
sage, and ponder on it with diligent reflection as a model for 


16 Job xxxi, 16-29, 31-34, 38-40. 


Fe ge ee a Ee eT Te ee ee ee 


Becta ticus V6 93 


their imitation. For the same book continues: “If kings hear 
and keep the word of God, they will fill out their days in pros- 
perity and their years in glory; but if they hearken not they 
shall pass by the sword, or be consumed by their folly.” ** Do 
you thus see what is to be the two-fold end of unprofitable 
kings? Either they will pass by the sword, or they will be con- 
sumed by folly. And rightly are they said to “pass” by the 
sword, and not to be ended by it, because the sword is for them 
as it were but a passageway to the place where the mighty, in 
proportion to the multitude of their wickednesses, are punished 
mightily ; but folly, too, consumes the ungodly, because in the 
enfeeblement of his people the prince’s own vigor is sapped; 
for a wasted people neither can nor will support the power of a 
prince. 


ETOUeXKXVI, 11, 12. 


CHA PT Rae 


WHAT MISCHIEFS AND ADVANTAGES BEFALL SUBJECTS FROM 
THE CHARACTER OF THEIR PRINCES; WHICH IS SUPPORTED 
BY EXAMPLES OF SEVERAL STRATAGEMS. 


He that giveth honor to a fool is said to be as one who adds a 
stone to Mercury’s pile. This is interpreted differently by dif- 
ferent commentators. For my own part, craving the indulgence 
of wiser men, I think that by Mercury’s pile is signified that 
which controls the art of calculation, because Mercury is the 
god of those who transact business and attend vigilantly to their 
accounts. Therefore, to add a stone to the pile by which the 
art of calculating is regulated, is to throw the reckoning of all 
calculations into confusion, just as to confer honor on a fool 
is to overturn the life of a commonwealth. It is impossible for 
one to govern others to their profit who trips ever upon his own 
errors. For it is written, “Where there is no ruler, the people 
will fall.” + And elsewhere: ‘An unwise king will be the ruin 
of his people, and cities shall be inhabited through the prudence 
of the wise.” ? “Short-lived is all power; a disease long-drawn 
out burdeneth the physician. A short disease the physician 
cutteth off; so a king is today and tomorrow he shall die. 
When a man dies, he shall inherit creeping things and beasts and 
worms.’ ® Why is it, then, I ask, that the poor are crushed be- 
neath wrongs and outrages, made lean with exactions, despoiled 
by manifold and oft-repeated rapine, why are the peoples bidden 
to clash together in arms and shake the world, to no end but that 


1 Prov, <1; 14 2 Eccli. x) 93: . 8 Beh sage teal a 
04 


ad 


Petpcraticus V7 95 


_ princes may be succeeded by their natural heirs? For the latter 


always succeed in their own right; no formality of a will is re- 
quired, they spring up on an intestacy ; willing or unwilling, you 
will have these heirs to rule over you. In the field of secular 


- literature Plato is said to have written: “When the magistrate 


oppresses his subjects, it is as though the head of the body were 
to swell to such a size that the members either have not the 
strength to sustain it at all, or not without grave inconvenience. 
This disease can neither be endured, nor yet healed, without 
causing the sharpest pain to the members. If the disease proves 
to be wholly incurable, it is more wretched to live on such.terms 
than to die. For nothing is better for the miserable than to put 
an end to their misery in any way whatsoever.” It is written 
elsewhere that the same author also said: “When the ruler 
tyrannizes over his subjects, it is as if a guardian were to per- 
secute his ward, or as if you were to cut a man’s throat with his 


own sword, which he had given you, and you had accepted, for 


ree er pats Sens 8 ps 


the purpose of defending him. For it is common knowledge 
that the commonwealth enjoys the rights and legal position of a 
ward, and it advances along the path of good fortune only when 
its head recognizes that he is unprofitable unless he faithfully 
coheres to the members.” These are his words, and I think well 
and truly put. But it seems to me that there can be no faithful 
and firm cohesion where there is not an enduring union of 
wills and as it were a cementing together of souls. If this ts 
lacking, it is in vain that the works of men are in harmony, since 
hollow pretence will develop into open injury, unless the real 
spirit of helpfulness is present. “Dissemblers and crafty men,” 
says Job, “provoke the wrath of God, nor shall they complain 
when He bindeth them; their soul perisheth early and their life 
is among the effeminate and unclean.” * Works may be the re- 
sult only of a sense of propriety, or sometimes of fear. But the 


4 Job xxxvi, 13, 14. 


96 John of Salisbury 


solidest union is that which is cemented with the glue of faith — 
and love, and stands wholly upon the foundation of virtue. ~ 
Nevertheless works, because they are an indication of character, — 
win favor; and nothing is more useful or more effective toward — 
securing the position and success of magistrates. Hence the ~ 
words of that excellent emperor, or (if you prefer) of the ex- 
cellent poet who puts them into his mouth, since there can be | 
no doubt that both were of the same opinion: j 


“Be pious before all else; for if we are surpassed in every virtue, . 
Mercy alone makes us equal to the gods. 

Act not on doubtful suspicions, nor be false to your friends, 
Or eager for rumors; who heeds such things 

Will tremble at every idle sound, and no hour will be free from ~ 

anxiety. ; 

Wakefulness and spears standing guard give no such security 
As when love keeps watch. You cannot extort love by force; 
It is the gift of mutual faith and simple favor.” ° 


Once Alexander, when leading an expedition in the winter, — 
was sitting by the fire and began to inspect his troops as they — 
marched past. Seeing one soldier almost lifeless from the cold, 
he had him sit down in his own place, saying: “If you had © 
been born among the Persians it would be a capital offence for 4 
you to sit in the king’s seat, but it is the privilege of a man born — 
in Macedonia.’”’ Another story is told of the same king to this — 
effect: When news was brought to him that a virgin of surpass- — 
ing beauty, who was betrothed to the prince of a neighboring — 
nation, was among the captives, he preserved the highest de- — 
gree of abstinence with regard to her, not even going to look — 
at her; and shortly afterwards he sent her back to her betrothed, 
and by this act of kindness won for himself the good-will of — 
that whole nation. Thus by his humanity he won to him the — 
minds of his own subjects, and by his justice those of alien 


5 Claudian, IV Cons. Hon., ll. 276-283. 


Policraticus V 7 Q7 


peoples. We read that Scipio Africanus pursued the same 
course in Spain, when a noble virgin was brought before him 
_who by her beauty drew to herself in admiration the eyes of all 
beholders. He restored her to her betrothed, Alicius by name, 
adding the gold which her parents had brought to ransom her 
from captivity, as a dower for the virgin or a wedding gift 
for the husband. By this double generosity the whole nation 
was conquered, as perhaps it would not have been otherwise, 
and was annexed to the people of the Roman empire. While 
Camillus was besieging the Falisci, a school-master of the city 
brought some of the children of the Falisci outside the walls 
as if for a stroll and then handed them over to Camillus, saying 
_ that by holding them as hostages he had the means of compelling 
the city to do his bidding. But Camillus not only spurned this 
perfidy, but binding the school-master’s hands behind his back, 
delivered him to the children to be whipped back to their parents 
with rods; and by this act of kindness he won the victory 
which he had not been willing to win by fraud; for because of 
this act of justice the Falisci surrendered of their own free will. 
There is another instructive story concerning this same Camillus 
which shows him in a not less noble light. For after he had 
subdued cities and enjoyed notable triumphs, he was condemned 
and banished from Rome because of the envy which he had 
aroused among the military element, on the pretext that he had 
unfairly distributed the common booty. Afterwards when the 
Senonian Gauls broke into the city, having defeated the Romans 
at the eleventh milestone near the river Allia, nor in the city 
itself could any place be held against them but the Capitol, 
money was paid to induce the Gauls to withdraw. Then Camil- 
lus, sympathizing with his fatherland in spite of its ingratitude, 
fell upon them and cut them to pieces, recovered the money from 
them, and brought back the Roman eagles. Wherefore in the 
sixth book of Virgil, Eneas among his other descendants is 
shown 


98 John of Salisbury 


“Camillus, restorer of the ensigns.” ° 


And he was recalled from his exile, and entering the city in a 
third triumph, was called a second Romulus as if he had founded ~ 


the city anew. 


Julius Iginus in the sixth book of his “Life and Deeds of H- ~ 
lustrious Men” tells the following incident of Fabricius (the — 


preceding ones are from Plutarch’s “Instruction of Trajan,” and 
from the “Book of Stratagems” of Julius Frontinus) : There 
came envoys from the Samnites to Gaius Fabricius, who re- 
minded him of the many and important services and acts of 


good-will which he had done for the Samnites since the restora- : 


tion of peace, and begged him to accept the gift of a large sum of 
money for his own use, as it was obvious that so important a man 
mist have many needs for his necessary living expenses and to 
maintain the splendor of his household. For this was not lux- 
urious or corresponding to the greatness of the man or the worth 
of his virtues. But Fabricius passed the flat of his hands from 
his ears to his eyes, and then lower down to his nostrils and 
throat and mouth, and then to his belly and below, and answered 
the envoys in these words: “While I can resist and control all 
these members which I have touched, I shall lack for nought. 
Therefore keep your money, which you need for your own use, 
and do not force it upon those to whom it is neither necessary 
nor welcome; Romans do not care to own gold, but to rule over 
those who own gold.”* This is the story of Julius Iginus. 
But Frontinus tells that when Fabricius was commanding the 
Romans, a doctor of Pirrus, the king of the Epirots, came to him 
and promised that he would give poison to Pirrus if he were paid 
what the deed was worth. Fabricius, not thinking that he stood 
in need of such villainy to win the victory, discovered the 
physician to the king, and for this act of good faith he was well 
rewarded, for he compelled Pirrus to sue for the friendship of 


6 Aen. vi, 825. 7 Aulus Gellius 1, 14. 


Prrcraticus V7 99 


the Romans. I will not meddle in the controversy about this in- 
cident between Valerius Maximus and Claudius Quadrigarius 
concerning the name and office of the traitor. Whether, accord- . 
ing to Valerius, he was Timocares the father of the king’s cup- * 
bearer, or, according to Quadrigarius, ‘Nicias the physician, I do 
not greatly care, so long as both authors agree that the consuls 
of the Romans vanquished Pirrus because they had scorned to 
take advantage of treachery. Quadrigarius further relates that 
the letter of the consuls to Pirrus was in these words: ‘The 
Roman consuls send greeting to Pirrus the king. For the 
wrongs that you have done, our purpose is steadfast and un- 
moved to make war against you as enemies; but with due ob- 
servance of good example and good faith. Therefore it has 
seemed to us that we should desire your life to be preserved to 
the end that we may be able to vanquish you by arms. There 
has come to us Nicias your attendant, asking a reward from us 
if he killed you secretly. We declare that this is not our wish, 
and we have announced to him that he was not to expect any 
advantage from us by reason of sucha deed. At the same time, 
it has seemed good to us to send you this information for fear 
that if anything of the kind happened it might be thought to 
have been done by our counsel, and to the end that the cities may 
know that we do not care to fight by means of promises and 
bribery and treachery. If you do not take precautions, you will 
be done to death.” * Why should I refer to the fact that when 
Pirrus had offered him half his kingdom as the price of grant- 
ing him peace on equal terms, he spurned the offer? Nor would 
he consent, either, to receive half of the kingdom at the price of 
promising friendship to the king. And when the illustrious 
Cineas, who had been sent to Rome and returned, was asked 
what manner of place Rome was, he replied that he had indeed 
beheld a nation of kings, for there practically all held the same 


8 Aulus Gellius iii, 8. 


100 John of Salisbury 


position which Pirrus alone held in Epirus and the rest of 
Greece. Then, hearing of the steadfastness of Fabricius, the 
king said, “This is assuredly the Fabricius whom it would be ~ 
more difficult to turn from the path of virtue than the sun from 
his course.” 

The Emperor Cesar Augustus Germanicus, in the course of 
the war which won for him the surname of Germanicus because 
of his victory over the enemy, having built a fort for his troops 
on the boundary, gave orders that payment should be made for 
the produce of the localities, which he enclosed with a wall. 
The reputation for justice which he thus acquired attached to 
him the loyalty of all. 

What shall I say concerning self-restraint and contempt of 
possessions, since I have also promised some of the stratagems 
of Plutarch? There is a tradition that Marcus Cato was con- 
tent with the same wine as boatmen. Attilius Regulus, after he 
had held the most important commands, was still so poor that he 
supported himself and his wife and children from a small farm 
which was tilled by a single laborer, and when he heard of the 
death of the latter, he wrote to the Senate about appointing a 
successor for himself, saying that his private affairs had been 
so reduced by the death of his slave that his presence was nec- 
essary at home. Gneius Scipio, after his successes in Spain, died 
in the greatest poverty, not even leaving sufficient money to pro- 
vide a dowry for his daughters; so that because of their 
indigence the Senate granted them dowries at the public expense. 
The Athenians did the same for the daughters of Aristides, 
who died in utter poverty after administering the most important 
affairs. Hannibal, who was accustomed to rise while it was yet 
dark, never retired to rest before nightfall, but at dusk invited 
his companions to dinner and never were more than two couches 
needed for his guests. When he was serving under Hasdrubal’s 
command, he generally slept on the bare ground, covered only 
with a military cloak. It is told of Emilius Scipio that he was 


Policraticus V 7 101 


accustomed to eat on the march as he walked with his friends, 
taking bread with him. The same story is told of Alexander 
‘of Macedon. Augustus Cesar was most sparing in his diet, 
and ate the plainest food. He was especially fond of bread 
of the second quality and of small fishes, of porous cheese 
“pressed by hand, and of green figs of the kind that bear twice 
‘a year. He ate before dinner at whatever time and place his 
‘stomach desired food. Hence he says in one of his letters: 
“No Jew, my Tiberius, keeps his sabbath so diligently as I have 
kept today, for I only chewed two mouthfuls in the bath after 
the first hour of night and just before I began to be anointed.” ® 
Also his anger cooled very quickly, for he perceived that an 
“angry man cannot change his mind, and, therefore, as he used 
to say, they are cooked up more quickly than asparagus ; which 
was his favorite expression for too precipitate action. In his 
talk he used this and other quaint turns of speech, as is shown in 
his autograph letters, wherein, for example, when he wished to 
. say that a thing would never happen, he would say that it would 
_ happen at the Greek Kalends. We read that Massinissa, when 
_ in the ninetieth year of his age, was accustomed to take his food 
at midday, while standing or walking before his tent. Gaius 
_ Curius, when after his victory over the Sabines he was voted 
by decree of the Senate the quantity of land which eminent 
soldiers were in the habit of receiving, contented himself with 
the portion of a common soldier, saying that a man was a bad 

: citizen who was not satisfied with the same share as others. 
4 Whole armies have been notable for abstinence, as for ex- 
2 ample that which won fame and glory under Marcus Scaurus. 
_ For Scaurus has perpetuated the memory of his soldiers’ ab- 
stinence: ‘“There was an apple tree,’ he says, “at the foot of 
¢ the camp, and included within its limits; and on the last day, 
é _ when the trumpeters were sounding the march and we were de- 


9 Suetonius, Augustus, 76. 


i. 
; 


i 


i 


102 John of Salisbury 


parting, the army left with the fruit untouched and the tree 
unharmed.” In the reign of Cesar Augustus Domitian, dur- 
ing the war which was begun by Julius Civilis in Gaul, the — 
wealthy city of the Lingones, which had revolted to Civilis, 
feared that it would be sacked by the approaching army of 
Czesar, and when, contrary to expectation, it was left unharmed 
and lost none of its possessions, it returned to its obedience, and 
surrendered seventy thousand armed men. Lucilius Mom- 
mius, who after the capture of Corinth adorned not only Italian 
soil but also the province with its pictures and statues, kept 
nothing from the enormous booty for his own use, so that the 
Senate even gave a dowry to his daughter from the public funds 
because of her poverty. 

Steadfastness was another virtue for which the Romans were 
very famous, as appears from several stratagems. Indeed, the 
splendor and virtue of that people is not surpassed if you search 
through the histories of all the nations. This is shown by the 
grandeur of their vast empire, than which the memory of man 
records none that was smaller at the beginning or grew to greater 
size through the continual addition of successive increments. 
For by the cultivation of peaceful liberty and justice, by rev- 
erence for the laws, and by friendly alliances with neighboring 
peoples, by ripeness of counsels and by the sageness of their 
words and deeds they brought it to pass that they subjected the 
entire world to their sway. But, since I commenced to speak 
of their steadfastness, let one example from the stratagems of — 
Julius Frontenius be set down as representative of many. When 
Hannibal was camped before the walls of the city, they sent out 
by a different gate reinforcements to the armies which they had 
in Spain that they might in this way show their confidence and 
assurance. Likewise the very field in which Hannibal had his 
camp, the owner thereof having died, was put up for sale and 
sold at the same price which it had brought before the war. 


Porecraticus V 7 103 


Furthermore, at the same time when they were beseiged by Han- 
nibal, they themselves were beseiging Capua, and they passed a 
decree that the army should not be recalled thence until after 
‘the city had been taken. 


ae 


CHAP TE Raa. 


WHY TRAJAN SEEMS WORTHY OF PREFERENCE BEFORE ALL 
PRINCES. 


To conclude these borrowings from Plutarch’s “Stratagems”’ 
with the case of Trajan, so great was the courage of this em- 
peror and his skill in government, that he extended far and wide 
the boundaries of the Roman empire, which since the time of 
Augustus had been rather defended as they were than nobly 
advanced and augmented. Yet he kept military glory at all 
times within the bounds of moderation, showing himself just 
to all men both at Rome and throughout the provinces, visiting 
his friends to pay his respects to them, or when they were sick, 
or on holidays, exchanging informal meals with them, making 
use of their carriages and garments quite as if there were no dis- 
tinction of rank between himself and them, enriching all men 
publicly and privately, bestowing immunities generously upon 
cities, decreasing the tribute of the provinces, oppressing none, 
beloved by all, so that down to our own day princes are wont to 
be acclaimed in their councils with the words, “May you be 
more fortunate than Augustus, and better than Trajan!” For 
in such terms has his memory been handed down, and so 
mightily has the reputation of his goodness prevailed, that he 
occurs at once to admiring friends or flatterers as the most 
superb example and comparison. Julius is justly praised for the 
greatness of his unconquered spirit, and for the power of ac- 
complishment of a man whose mind and hand were equal to 
almost impossible performances. His greatness in arms is 
evidenced not merely by his conquest of the Gauls and Britons, 

104 


menrraircus VS 105 


whom he was the first to subdue, but by the whole successful his- 
tory of the civil war as well, and by the line of emperors of the 
house of Cesar. So great was his literary skill that he could 
dictate four letters simultaneously. His learning in the civil 
law is shown by the old Roman statutes. How ceaselessly he 
applied the strength of his mighty intellect to philosophy would 
be proved, if by nothing else, by his invention of the intercalary 
day. But, most marvellous of all, he gave his attention at the 
same time to love and to business, and in each thing that he 
undertook, was so great that he seemed devoted to that alone; 
so that he was at one and the same time the whole of each and 
all things. 

The praise of Augustus is celebrated by all the world, and 
memory takes pleasure in revering Titus as the darling and 
favorite of the human race. But I do not hesitate to prefer 
Trajan before all of these because he founded the greatness of 
his reign solely on the practice of virtue. According to the 
ethical poet, “He who has done rightly is to be regarded as a 
king.” To the same effect is the advice which Claudian puts 
into the mouth of Theodosius: 


“Though thy rule extends far over the utmost Indies, 
Though the Mede, the soft Arabian, and the Chinese adore thee, 
Still if thou art a prey to fear, desirest wrong and art swayed by 
wrath, 
Thou wilt bear the yoke of slavery and be subject within thyself 
To unjust laws; then only wilt thou have a just title to rule over 
all things 
When thou canst be king of thyself; habit slips easily downhill 
From bad to worse; privilege lures on to luxury, 
And, if given free reign, succumbs to wanton charms; 
’Tis the harder to live chastely when love is so easy; ’tis the harder 
to govern wrath 
When the instrument of punishment is in our hands: 


1 Hor., Ep., i, 1, 50—60. 


106 John of Salisbury 


Wherefore, suppress thy emotions; 

And think not of what thou hast power to do, but of what it will 
become thee to have done, 

And let regard for the right ever rule thy mind.”’ 2 


Even those who think that others are to be preferred before — 
Trajan may be the more readily brought to join in his praise 
when they read that his virtues were commended by the most 
holy Pope Gregory who, by his tears shed for that emperor, de- 
livered him from the fires of the underworld, God in the rich- 
ness of His mercy rewarding the justice which Trajan had 
shown to the weeping widow. For once when the famous em- 
peror had mounted his horse to set forth to war, this widow, 
seizing his foot, and miserably lamenting, besought him that 
justice might be done her against those who had foully slain 
her son, a fine blameless youth. “Thou art emperor, O 
Augustus,” said she, “and must I bear so cruel a wrong?” “I 
will see that thou have satisfaction,” replied the emperor, “when 
I return.” “And what if thou dost never return?” she asked. 
“Then my successor,” answered Trajan, “will give thee satisfac- 
tion.” “But how,” she asked, “wilt thou then profit by the good 
deed which another does? It is thou who owest this thing, and 
thou shalt be rewarded according to thine own works; it is 
fraud for one not to render that which he owes. Thy succes- 
sor will be bound on his own account to those who suffer 
wrong; thy debt will not be discharged by the justice which 
another does; well for thy successor if he discharge his own 
debts!’ The emperor, moved by these words, dismounted from 
his horse, and immediately examined the case, and brought con- 
solation to the poor widow by giving her the satisfaction which 
was due to her. Therefore it is said that the blessed Pope so 
long shed tears for him until it was notified to him in a revela- 
tion that Trajan had been set free from the pains of Hell, on 


2 Claudian, JV Cons. Hon., il. 257-268. 


Poitcraticus V 8 107 


this condition, however, that Gregory should not again presume 
- to solicit God on behalf of any other infidel. Therefore does 
he rightly deserve to be preferred before others whose virtue 
was so pleasing to the saints that for their merits he, and he 
alone, was set free. So much concerning the head of the com- 
monwealth. 


CHAPTER ae 


CONCERNING THOSE WHO FILL THE PLACE OF THE HEART IN 
THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THAT UNJUST MEN ARE TO BE 
EXCLUDED FROM THE COUNSELS OF RULERS: AND OF THE 
FEAR OF GOD, AND OF WISDOM AND PHILOSOPHY. 


The place of the heart, on the authority of Plutarch, is filled 
by the senate. Now “senate,” according to the opinion of the 
ancients, is the name of an office, and its distinguishing mark is 
old age; the word senate is itself derived from “senectus,’? which 
means old age. The Athenians called it Areopagus, as if for the 
yeason that in its members was gathered the strength of the 
whole people; and although that nation made many notable in- 
ventions, they established nothing more wholesome nor more 
famous than their senate. For what is more noble than an as- 
sembly of elders, who having faithfully completed their terms in 
the ordinary offices, then pass on to the duty of giving counsel 
and exercising rulership, and in feeble bodies thus put forth the 
strength of the mind? They are the better fitted to the busi- 
ness of wisdom in proportion as they are the less able to per- 
form feats of the body. Truly they came into such honor 
among the Greeks that the leaders of the commonwealth nowhere 
took any step, and nothing considerable was done, which the ap- 
pointed elders did not initiate or approve; and what is more, 
from the foundation of the City [of Rome] their names were in- 
scribed in letters of gold, and they were therefore called by all 
“conscript” fathers, as excelling all others in wisdom, age, and 
fatherly affection. In their hands was the authority of counsel 

108 


oa OD 


Pyiscraticus V9 10g 


and of carrying out all public undertakings. Moreover, though 
we have seen that their name was derived from their age, I 
think that what was meant was not merely age of body but of 
mind. 

For age of mind is the wisdom which consists in properly ap- 
portioning all duties and in practising the whole art of life. For 
the art of right living, as the Stoics thought, is the art of arts. 
To say that there is no art of the greatest of all things, although 
everyone admits that the minor things have each their respective 
art, is an opinion of those who speak with too little reflection, and 
who in respect to the largest things fall into the error of think- 
ing that everything is a matter of the arbitrary will and discre- 
tion of those who make decisions, instead of being rather a 
matter of truth and science.' But there is, as the ancient phi- 
losophers knew, a supreme guiding principle of things divine 
and human, namely wisdom, and a science of things to be done 
and to be left undone. To apply one’s self to this is to philoso- 
phize, for philosophy is the study of wisdom. Therefore, as the 
ancients thought, philosophy knocks at the gate of wisdom, and 
when it is opened to her and the soul is sweetly illuminated with 
the light of things, the name of philosophy then vanishes ; or, as 
has seemed to the clearer-sighted, the desire of the will is then 
fulfilled with satisfaction, and the flower of study turns into 
the fruit; for philosophy finds its completion and end in wis- 
dom. But I know not by what means we can become conversant 
with the end before we know the beginning, which in all things 
is regarded as the most effective part. Truly, he who knows 
the end cannot be ignorant of the beginning, since the begin- 
ning is the root which through the manifold paths of virtue 
pushes its way upward, and penetrates by its firmness and lively 
energy to the crown of the end and the sweetness of the fruit. 

“Behold,” says blessed Job, “the fear of the Lord is wisdom, 


1 Quoted from Cicero, de Off., II, ii, 6. John adds the last clause. 


I1O John of Salisbury 


and to depart from evil is understanding.” * I find nowhere 
any other root of wisdom, since all agree in this, that the be- 
ginning of wisdom is the fear of God. Fear, then, is the be- 
ginning, and in fear is the increase; and the apex of all the 
virtues, whether you call it charity or wisdom, is not far re- 
moved from fear. Distinguish, however, servile from filial 
fear; the former is the beginning, the latter the achievement 
and perfection, of wisdom. In whatever manner the pomp of 
words clothes its vanity, the truth is that wisdom begins in fear, 
and that the holy fear of the Lord endureth forever. And so 
the root remains, and, drawing strength from increments of 
grace, puts forth into the branches of the virtues, until its vital 
force issues finally in the fruit of perfected charity, which no 
longer acts under the stimulus of penalties; for in charity there 


is no terror or servile fear, which acts by penalties, but rather it @ 


is the mark of this holy fear that it continually performs good 
works, and, clinging to justice, holds it fast. Terror then is 
seen to pass away, while grace grows into virtue; because now 
there is no servile fear, but instead filial affection, which insti- 
gates to reverence and good works. “Always have I feared 
God,” says blessed Job, “as waves swelling over me, and [| could 


drank ee out 


not endure the weight thereof.” * Note that he does not say 


that he feared Him sometimes, but always, and there is no doubt 


2 Job. xxviii, 28. Cf. with this passage Fortescue, “De Laudibus 
Legum Angliae,” c. i.: “Of what nature is the fear which the laws 
propose to the keepers thereof? Verily it is not that fear whereof it is 
written that ‘perfect charity casteth out fear’; and yet even the latter 
sort of fear, though servile, often stirs up kings to read the laws, though 
it is not itself the child of the law. But the fear wherecf Moses here 
speaks, and which is the child of the law, is that whereof the prophet 
says, ‘The holy fear of the Lord endureth forever.’ This fear is filial, 
and knows no dread of penalties, as does the fear which charity casteth 
out; for this fear proceeds from the laws, which teach to do the will of 
God, whereby it escapes deserving punishment. This fear is the same 
which Job speaks of : ‘Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; 
and to depart from evil is understanding.’ ” 

3 Job xxxi, 23. 


Maori craticus V -9 III 


that he who said this was a perfect man, and one who, accord- 
ing to the testimony of God himself, had not his like upon earth. 
It is not credible that he refrained from evil solely through 
terror of punishment and without the active impulse, of charity, 
being a man who beyond doubt was consummate and perfected 
in justice. 

So far my argument has advanced in praise of fear, but what 
fear is we have left as yet unconsidered. And would that it 
might be fixed in the heart instead of the word being con- 
tinually rolled over and over in the mouth! For if it has once 
touched the mind, the tongue will discourse more effectively 
and with greater profit to itself. For it is vain to turn over 
words in the mouth if the works of virtue are wanting. The 
fear of God, then, as the blessed Pope Gregory asserts, is noth- 


_ ing else than not to omit to do any of the things which it is our 


duty to do. To omit to do a thing means not to perform it 
either in fact or in will. For what you will to do, but have not 
the power to accomplish in fact, God will none the less regard 
and impute to you as done, for a fully completed act of will re- 
ceives the reward of the intended act as though the latter were 
in truth accomplished. 
It is certain that he who fears God, omits nothing and does 
good works. A man who searches diligently into all things, 
and knows the things which ought to be done, and does them, 
is verily a wise man and such as is most fit to be a counsellor 
of princes. Where such gravity of character is observed to 
exist, the question of bodily or physical age is not material. 
For he is truly an elder whose wise advice shows him fit to be 
chosen to give counsel. For it is written, “Old age is wor- 
shipful not in days, nor reckoned by the number of years.” * 
“The glory of old men is their white hair.” ° “White hairs are a 
man’s understanding and old age is a spotless life.”’° Happy 


4 Wisdom iv, 8. & Prov. xx, 20, 6 Wisdom iv, 8, 9. 


I12 John of Salisbury 


indeed is the man who attains to this kind of old age, so that by 
the testimony of his own conscience he may take pleasure in 
the innocence of his life! 

But perhaps you will say: “Who is this man? Show him 
to us and we will praise him.”* Truly I do not think that we 
can wait to find a man for counsellor who has never once sinned, 
but only one who takes no delight in sinning, who hates sin, and 
rejoices in virtue, and desires it with a great desire, or in other 
words, a man of good-will. But even this is not to be pushed to 
extremes ; rather, as the common saying is, “with due allowance 
for the limitations of human nature,” a man who appears blame- 
less when judged not by an absolute standard, but in com- 
parison with others. For who will boast that he has always 
kept his heart clean, since not even the stars are clean in the 
sight of Him who has found wickedness even in His angels? 

Unjust men are therefore to be excluded, and men who are 
overbearing and avaricious, and all such manner of human 
plagues. Nought, indeed, is more deadly than the unrighteous 
counsellor of a rich man. “With all watchfulness,” it is writ- 
ten, “guard thy heart, for it is the source of life.”* Therefore 
the ruler should provide that his counsellors be not needy, lest 
they covet immoderately the things of others. The same prin- 
ciple extends to all whose duties touch the inner parts of the 
body of the commonwealth, and whom we called above financial 
officials and bailiffs and overseers of private property. For all 
these must have subsistence in sufficient quantity, and this should 
be interpreted on the basis of necessity and usage, having due 
regard to distinction between persons. For if it is absorbed too 
greedily and not sufficiently distributed, distempers will be 
produced which are incurable, or difficult to cure. Certainly it is 
impossible to seek justice and money at one and the same 
time; either a man will cleave to the one and despise the other, 


* Roechiy xxext 30: 8 Prov. iv, 23. 


seus i ris paneer RC 


Pee ae ee ee ee ee ee 


— or. 


i — ee 


Prauveraticu's VO rr3 


or else he will be perverted by the worse and lose the better. 
For according to the testimony of Wisdom, “there is nought more 
wicked than a covetous man, and nought more unjust than love 
of money; for such a one setteth even his soul to sale and while 
he liveth, he hath cast away his bowels.” ® And perchance it is 
for this reason that mother nature, the most loving of parents, 
has prudently protected the inner parts of the body with the 
crating of the chest and the solid structure of the ribs and the 
barrier of the outer flesh, to the end that they may be the more 
safe against all violence from without; and then proceeds to 
supply them with their several necessities; nor are they ever ex- 
posed to external contacts without injury to their health. So in 
the commonwealth it behooves us to follow this pattern of: na- 
ture’s craftsmanship and from the public store supply these of- 
ficials with a sufficiency for their needs. 


Secs x, 6, 10, 


CHAP TR 


OF THE SIDES OF RULERS, WHOSE NECESSITIES MUST BE 
) SATISFIED AND THEIR MALICE CURBED. 


The same rule of nature is also to be followed in the case of 


the “sides,” namely those whose duty it is to attend upon the 


prince. For it is clear that character is formed from association. 
“He that toucheth pitch is defiled thereby,’ ’ and 


“One bunch of grapes is spoiled by contact with another.” ? 


You cannot suppose that justice or truth or godliness are at home 
with men whom you see putting all things up for sale. They 
bar out Christ Himself, and, though He knocks at the gate, it is 
not opened to Him; they fly from God’s grace, and put God’s 
grace to flight, who do all things for a price and nothing gratis. 
If petitions are to be furthered, if a case is to be examined, if 
execution is to be issued on a judgment, if a bond is to be fur- 
nished, money is the sole driving-force, truth is blind, piety 
limps, while | 


“The money which a man keeps in his strong-box 

Is the measure of the credit given to his oath.” * “The poor man 
is thought 

To defy the lightnings of the gods and even the gods themselves 
pardon him therefor.” ¢ 


The more corrupt a man is in character and the more given to 
corrupting others by bribes, the more favor he enjoys in the 
1Eccli. xiii, I. 2Juv., Sat. ii, 81. 


S Juv. oats Ul tas; 4. 4Juv., Sat. iii, 145, 6. 
114 


sy i ae a in ab egg eT we ae AE 


ee Ta ey ia 


remeraticus V° ro ITS 


eyes of this kind of people. If you will escape from the hand 
of princes, a long road stretches before you, and a narrow and a 
steep one; before you get clear of the last torturers you will 
sweat much. Cossus prepares your papers; if you are permitted 
to pay your respects to him, count it as a great thing. If you 
do not bring the proper passport with you, you approach him in 
vain. But if you have brought it, then it is of no use, and he 
will not consent to soil his noble hands with the taint of parch- 
ment. What more should I say? You must buy some of his, 
since neither attention nor pen nor the juice of sepia or the black 
cuttlefish will be supplied you unless you buy and pay for them. 
If you do not make him favorable to you, he will so twist the 
very syllables and strokes of the letters, he will lay so many 
verbal snares for you in a seemingly friendly instrument, as to 
write you into war rather than peace, into litigation rather than 
security. If you chance to have a handsome belt, a good 
trencher, or anything else especially attractive in the way of 
small fittings, add it to his possessions, if you do not wish to lose 
all your trouble and expense. For it will be wrung from you by 
direct requests if you do not forestall these by your own gen- 
erosity. In the end your friend will even carry away your hat, 
no matter how mean it is, to remember you by. Now you are 
clear of Cossus, but the fire of purgatory threatens you, Vegento 
is still left, whom you will have to solicit insistently and with a 
whole skilful battery of gestures, prayers, and gifts to move 
him even to look at you without opening his lips. Then follow 
consultations about each word, he fixes a time for deliberation, 
and even the t-strokes are weighed in the balance. Unless you 
soften him in advance you will be met with the objection that 
your order of statement is wrongly conceived, or that the style 
is inartificial, or that the partiality of the notary or scribe, or 
his ignorance of law, has departed from the prescribed form; 
and there is always some knot which requires money to untie. 
The least of your troubles is that you will be racked by long de- 


116 John of Salvstanre 


lays, while that is postponed which cannot be denied to you. 
Believe a man who speaks from experience, I have fallen into 
their hands a thousand times, and, to borrow somewhat from 
ancient fable, the harsh porter Charon, who never spares any- 
one, is far more merciful than they; for it is said that he is 


usually content with a triens, or other small coin ; while these 


people demand whole pounds, multiplied many times over, for 
their hire. 

But why should I complain that among the court officials all 
things are for sale when even things which are not, nainely 


omissions and inaction, are also matter of venality? Not — 


merely is there no act, no word, to be had without payment, but 
they will not even keep silent unless paid a price; silence it- 
self is a thing for sale. This perhaps they have learned from 


Demostenes, who once asked the player Aristodimus how much ~ 


he had been paid for acting. He replied, “a talent.” “I have 


been paid more than that,” said Demostenes, “for keeping — 


silent.” For the tongue of pleaders can be most damaging un- 
less, as the saying is, you tie it up with silver cords. 

Nor is it worth while simply to snare one official in your net 
with gifts unless he happens to be an extremely influential one, 
because by winning for yourself the favor of one, you excite the 
envy of all the rest. For they regard themselves as deprived 
to their own hurt of whatever is bestowed upon others. This 
attitude runs down from the greatest to the smallest, who, un- 
less they are softened by attentions and refreshed with gifts, 
imagine that they are being wronged. 

“Every great house is full of overbearing slaves,” ° and like- 
wise of greedy and grasping ones. 

Among all the idle parasites of the court, those are the most 
harmful who are wont to color their wretched tricks under the 
pretext of gentlemanly liberality, who go about handsomely at- 


ay ae 
5 Juv., Sat. v, 66. 


ned aia ih 


wae a ey ee melee 


Puanecratvcnus, Vor o igh ys 


tired, feast splendidly, frequently invite strangers to dine at 
their table, are kindly at home, benign abroad, affable of speech, 
liberal in their opinions, munificent in cultivating their neigh- 
bors, and famous for their imitation of all the virtues. As the 
ethical writer ® says, “Of all varieties of injustice there is none 
more capital than that of those who at the very moment when 
they are most false so act as to seem virtuous. These men em- 
ploy the appearance of virtue as a cloak for license; and seek 
to make of acts which should scarcely leave room for hope of 
pardon, a substantial ground of glory and reputation.” The 
greatest exactions can be extorted with impunity by men, who 
cannot, or rather who disdain to, be content with little. It is a 
well-known and common proverb that 


“He will forever be a slave who does not know how to get along 


fod 


with a little.” ? 


That I may not be thought, however, to wage implacable war- 
fare against these people, I am willing to concede that court 
officials may accept gifts so long as they do not shamelessly ex- 
tort them. [or shame is cast away as soon as they descend to 
making exactions. It is written ® that the words, ‘I ask,” are 
words which a supplicant should speak modestly and with a 
low voice; and a man who receives in response to his asking 
cannot be said to receive gratis. For a man who asks buys at a 
double price; he sells his modesty at the price of the thing asked 
for, or for the hope of it. ‘The stigma of shame does not justly 
attach to gifts which are offered by and accepted from the liber- 
ality of the donor, and which are not extorted by the infamy of 
the suitor. But the gifts of unjust men should not be accepted, 
since a man will be ungrateful if he does not return kindness for 
kindness, and the Lord Himself says that it is unjust to give 


6 Cic., de Of. i, ¥3, § AI. (Hor He. 3, Toul. 4t: 
8 Seneca, Benefic. ii, 2, § I. ; 


118 John of Salisbury 


judgment in favor of a wrong-doer in return for gifts. In 
any event, to accept a kindness is to sell one’s freedom ; and it is 
shameful for those men to be slaves whose duty it is to rule 
over others. However, regard should be had for the case and 
the person; gifts should not be received from an infamous giver 
nor under infamous circumstances; but the time, the place, and 
the manner should be thoroughly looked into. Gifts are either 
honorable or sordid most frequently by reason of the donor or 
the cause of the gift; occasionally by reason of the time, the 
place, or the manner. However, the dishonesty of court of- 
ficials is so well-known that it is vain for a suitor to place his 
trust in the testimony of his conscience, the integrity of his 
character, his unblemished reputation, the genuineness of his 
case, or the eloquence with which it is presented, without the 
intervention of a bribe: 


“Though you should come in person, accompanied by the Muses, 
Homer, 

If you bring nothing in your hand, Homer, you will be turned 
out of doors.” 7° 


Orpheus is said not merely to have tamed lions and tigers by 
the effect of his eloquence, but before Dis himself his voice did 
not falter but rather grew more sweet; and his appealing case 
prevailed upon the three-headed dog so that he was permitted, 
contrary to the custom of the underworld, to carry back Euridice 
after she had once entered. But though you should be Orpheus, 
or Arion, or he who according to the tale melted the rocks with 
only the music of a shell, you will accomplish nought among the 
court officials unless you soften their leaden hearts with a ham- 
mer of gold or silver on the anvil of vanity or greed. All men 
abhor the pitilessness of Cerberus; I am certain that I have seen 


9Tsa. v, 23. 10 Ovid, Ars. Amat. ii, 279-280, 


7 
4 


meer eticus Wore 119 


ushers who in comparison with Cerberus were still more pitiless. 
Besides, in the underworld there is only one Cerberus; at the 
court there is a Cerberus in each of the cubbyholes set apart for 
an official to lurk in. You will have these bureaucratic Cer- 
beruses upon you with their whole brood forever biting or bark- 
ing. I suppose they have all heard the physicians saying in uni- 
son, “When you have a pain, take something”; so that they are 
always ready, if they think it to their advantage, to create a 
pain in a healthy organ. There is one point, however, wherein 
you will marvel to see how dutiful they are, and that is the joy 
with which they listen to quarrels, foment the cases of the-hum- 
ble and extend their protection to the afflicted whenever they 
can thereby drain the strong-boxes of the rich. For however 
the case goes, it always turns out that their coffers are well 
filled in spite of the fact that their avarice is insatiable. If the 
man who falls into their hands repents, I think that the tor- 
ments which he suffers from them will be sufficient penance to 
absolve him. There is no sin so grave that it cannot thus be 
expiated. For what greater misery is there than to wait upon 
the thresholds of the proud, to endure the arrogance of 
passers-by, to be trodden under the contempt of the contemptible, 
to bear annoyance from outcasts, and to suffer every sort of 
indignity from the unworthy? Socrates was once asked by 
Alcibiades why he did not drive out of his house Xantippe, who 
was an extremely ill-tempered and quarrelsome wife, and night 
and day kept up a continual stream of shrewishness. He re- 
plied that by enduring such a woman at home he practised and 
accustomed himself to bear more patiently the ill-humor and 
abuse of others out of doors. 

There is a well-known old proverb that the petition of an 
empty hand is a rash one; and he is indeed an unpractised 
suitor who thinks that things will be given in exchange for 
words. For everywhere among courtiers and physicians the 
rule applies; 7 


120 John of Salisbury 


“In exchange for words we prescribe mountain herbs; 
For things of price we give drugs and spices.” 14 


Of course there are always a few among the rest who are more 
kindly disposed, but these can do but little, as almost all are 
inclined toward harm, which is a far easier thing than to be 


helpful. So let them ply their traffic, draining the coffers of 


others, stuffing their own, possessing as much as Pacuvius, pil- 
ing up gold as high as mountains, loving no one and loved of 
none, the admiration of all who do not know them, but scorned 
or hated by their familiars. You will find this situation noted in 
the writings of the old Romans. When Publius Cineas Grecinus 
(or any other name will do as well) was blamed by his friends 
because he divorced his wife, who was beautiful, chaste, and of 
noble birth, he replied, “Yes, and this shoe which you see is new, 
fashionable and attractive to all who see it, but no one besides 
myself knows exactly where it pinches.” 

We read in the book of Numbers that Israel by fornicating 
with the Madianitish women provoked the anger of the Lord, 
until with a drawn sword Finees pierced Zambri the son of Salu 
with his Madianitish paramour, and in the destruction of the 
evil-doers the wrath of God was appeased. The Lord then 
spoke unto Moyses, saying: “Take all the chief men of the 
people and hang them up on gibbets against the sun.” 1” It was 
the people who had sinned, and the fornication of the chief men 
is not expressly mentioned, but none the less the command was 
that the chief men should be taken first and brought to the 
gallows to the end that through their punishment peace might be 
restored to the offending people; for the negligence of rulers is 
most often the source of the wickedness of the subjects. 

Therefore, it is important to the prince to curb the malice of 
his officials and provide for them out of the public funds to the 


11 Regimen Sanitatis, seu Scholae Saliternae; see Webb, vol. i, p. 327. 
12 Numbers xxv, 4. 


gals ho Tp gE 


FO ee aN a. tee ia 


Pet Oe ee ee ee es ee eee 


Paa@iaecviaticus V- 10 121 


end that all occasion for extortion may be removed. As was 
anciently provided in the Roman law, so generally it seems fair 
and just to regard a man as the author of a misdeed which he 
might have corrected had he not scorned to do his duty. The 
more famous and powerful is a court, the more thickly and harm- 
fully it is generally infested with these scourges of mankind, 
these torturers of the innocent. For it commonly happens that 
a court receives vicious men, or else soon makes them vicious, 
and their boldness in wrong-doing increases because, through the 
friendship of those in high place, their vices are treated with in- 
dulgence. It is vain to rely upon the strength of good qualities 
formed earlier in life, since it is almost impossible for a man to 
retain his innocence among courtiers. Who is there whose 
virtue would not be destroyed by the follies of the courtiers? 
Who is so strong, so firm, that he cannot be corrupted? The 
best man is he who resists longest and most effectively, and is 
corrupted least. For, if virtue is to be preserved intact, the 
only way is to flee from the life of the court. The author of the 
following lines expressed the nature of a court with prophetic 
insight : 


“Let him depart from court 
Who desires to be righteous.” 4 


Whence it has been aptly compared to the fountain of Salmacis,1® 
ill-famed for its enervating effects. Its waters, according to 


13 The “follies of courtiers” is the subtitle of the Policraticus (“Poli- 
craticus, sive De Nugis Curialium et Vestigiis Philosophorum’”), and 
is the central theme about which the book was built. It was a title and 
theme which immediately found imitators. In the next generation 
Walter Map entitled his important work “De Nugis Curialium,” bor- 
rowing the title, his recent translators suggest, from John of Salisbury 
(Walter Map, “De Nugis Curialium,’ Englished by Tupper and Ogle, 
introduction, p. xx.). Giraldus Cambrensis wrote of the “follies of 
courtiers” in the introduction to his “De Principis Instruction’ (Opera, 
Rolls Series, vol. VIII., p. Ivii). 

14 Lucan, Phars., viii, 493. 15 Ovid, Metam., iv., 285 ff. 


122 John of Salisbury 


the tale, were fair to the sight, sweet to the taste, pleasant to 
the touch and most agreeable to every sense, but so enervated 
all men who entered therein that they made them effeminate and 
deprived them of their nobler sex ; and no man came forth there- 
from without perceiving to his amazement and sorrow that he 
had been changed into a woman. For either his sex was totally 
destroyed and converted into the weaker counterpart, or else 
some trace of its old dignity remaining, he became a hermaphro- 
dite, who by a sport of erring nature wears the likeness of 
both sexes without retaining the true substance of either. This 
poetic fiction represents the nature of the life at court, which 
enfeebles men by the loss of their manhood or perverts them 
while they yet retain its semblance. For he who has plunged 
into the follies of that life and still wears the outward semblance 
of philosophy and goodness, is like a hermaphrodite who de- 
forms womanly beauty with a harsh and bristly countenance, 
while he pollutes and defiles manhood with womanish weakness. 
Such a monstrous thing is a courtier-philosopher, who, while 
he affects to be both, is neither, because the court casts out 
philosophy utterly, and the true philosopher will in no wise 
participate in the follies of a court. The simile, however, does 
not hold good for every court, but only for one which is made 
sick by the rule of an unwise prince. For a wise man drives 
away all nonsense, sets his house in order, and composes all 
things under him to reason. As the book of Wisdom says: 
“What fellowship hath a holy man with a dog, or light with 
darkness?” 1° “Every living thing delighteth in its like, and 
every man in his like. All flesh consorteth with its like and 
every man will associate with his like. If ever the wolf holds 
fellowship with the lamb, such is that between the sinner and 
the righteous man.” ** 


16 Kccli. xiii, 22; 2 Cor. vi, 14. RE Ce Xili, IQ-21. 


Cea PL eR XI 


OF THE EYES, EARS, AND TONGUE OF RULERS; AND OF THE OF- 
FICE OF GOVERNOR; AND THAT A JUDGE SHOULD HAVE 
KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW AND OF EQUITY, A WILL DISPOSED 
TOWARD GOOD, AND ADEQUATE POWER OF ENFORCEMENT, 
AND THAT HE SHOULD BE BOUND BY AN OATH TO: KEEP 
THE LAWS AND SHOULD BE FREE FROM THE TAINT OF RE- 
CEIVING GIFTS. 


Next in order comes the simile of eyes, ears, and tongue, 
which, as above-mentioned, is applied to provincial governors. 
A governor is one who presides over the administration of 
justice among the people of a province. He therefore should 
have knowledge of the just and the unjust, and should have 
the means and the will to enforce justice. For although the 
common lot of death ought not to be imputed to the physician, 
yet if tragic consequences are the result of his ignorance or 
lack of skill, they are deservedly charged to him. Furthermore 
if he knows the proper remedy and refuses to apply it, he is 
condemned not for ignorance but for wilful wrong. Con- 
demnation results in either situation; though the punishment of 
ignorance is the milder of the two, except in cases where the 
ignorance has been brought about by negligence. For if ignor- 
ance is invincible, it does not lead to the death penalty but is 
excused by innate incapacity. So if a governor knows and 
wishes to do equity, but has not adequate power, the fault is 
not so much his own as it is the fault of the prince. It is, 
however, most certain that the duty of a judge and his religion 
should include the following things: he ought to have a knowl- 

123 


124 John of Salisbury 


edge of law, a will disposed toward good, and adequate power 
to enforce his decisions, and he should be bound by an oath 
to keep the laws so that he may know that it is not permissible 


for him to depart in any particular from the purity thereof. — 


The book of Wisdom instructs us with regard to the wisdom 
of a judge: “A wise judge judges the people, and the rule 


of a prudent man shall stand firm. As is the judge of a ~ 


people, so also are his ministers; and what manner of man is 
the ruler of a city, such likewise are they that dwell therein.” * 
But it is also pointed out that power is necessary: “Seek not 
to be made a judge unless thou have power and strength to 
break down iniquities, lest perchance thou quail before the face 
of the powerful and in thy obsequiousness lay a stone of 
stumbling for thyself. Sin not against the populace of a city, 
nor thrust thyself in among them, nor make thyself guilty of 
two sins, for not even in one shalt thou escape untouched. Be 
not cowardly in thine own spirit; despise not to pray and to 
give alms. Say not ‘God will look with favor on the multitude 
of my gifts, and when I offer them to God the Most High, He 
will accept my offerings.’ Laugh at no man in the bitterness of 
his soul; for it is all-seeing God alone who exalteth and bring- 
eth low.” 2 From these words the attentive reader will observe 
that a will disposed toward good is not less necessary to a 
judge than are knowledge and power; since he is held re- 
sponsible not only for his own offences but for those of others, 
and, laboring under the double burden of both, he will not be 
accounted faithful before God merely because of the multitude 
of his gifts without cleanness of will also. Wherefore Plato 
says * well and pointedly (if men would but heed his words) 
that those who contend with one another for the prize of 
bearing public office act as if sailors in the face of a tempest 
were to fight over which of them should be helmsman of the 


1Eccli. x, I-2. 2 Eccli. vii., 6-12. 
8Cic. De Off., i., 25, § 87, quoting Plato, Rep., vi., 488B. 


Prataoraticus Vomit 125 


ship. At such a turn of fortune the man does not exist, or 
only rarely, and he is a rash man indeed, who makes good his 
title to the magistracy without skill and strength. And in my 
own time, I have seen nought more lamentable than judges 
ignorant of the science of law and devoid of good-will, as is 
proved by their love of gifts and rewards, exercising the power 
which they have in the service of avarice or ostentation or ad- 
vancing the fortunes of their own flesh and blood, and ex- 
empted from the necessity of swearing obedience to the laws. 
From this it is plain that the princes who have conferred regular 
jurisdiction on such judges are themselves either ignorant of 
law or else hold it in contempt. But, whatever we may say 
regarding legal learning or the power of enforcement, at least 
a judge ought to be an eminently religious man, and one who 
hates all injustice worse than death itself. 

Since provincial governors have as part of their office a 
regular jurisdiction to administer justice, the same considera- 
tions apply to them as to other judges; and therefore what is 
said of them can be extended in its consequences to the others. 
The first thing which is marked out for both by the necessity 
of their office is that they should in all things obey justice, 
and that none of the things which it is their duty to do should 
be done for price. For if a thing is unjust, it is unlawful to 
the degree that it must not even be done as the price of this 
temporal life itself. On the other hand, what is just does not 
need the addition of a price, since its performance is owed as 
an obligation, and it is unjust to charge a price for performing 
an existing obligation. To sell justice is therefore iniquity; to 
sell injustice is not only iniquity but insanity. For injustice is 
universally disapproved and there is general agreement that 
it ought nowhere to exist; justice on the other hand is every- 
where an obligation or indebtedness in such a sense that no price 
may be charged for it without committing a crime. The fault 
of Balaam was not that he had injured the cause of the people 


126 John of Salisbury 


of God or spoken other words than those which the Lord in- 
spired, but rather that, blinded by avarice, and acting under 
the sway of malice, he contrived, for the aid of the infidels, 
how Israel might by sin provoke against themselves the wrath 
of God. Therefore he sought how he might justly justify the 
cause of impiety, and as it were cozen God to withdraw His 


favor from His elect. And if he could not justify the cause 


of their adversaries, he at least accomplished this, that God 
withdrew His favor from their cause; and in a contest in which 
both the contenders are unjust it is said that victory usually goes 
to the side which is superior in strength. You will see among 
judges many followers of Balaam, who although they will not 
pass an unjust sentence, yet under the corrupt influence of 
gifts struggle by every act to transfer the justice which be- 
longs to one party to the other party. 

I cannot easily say which is worse, the seller or the buyer 
of justice, although the seller colors his wickedness with a more 
deceitful dye. Still it is possible to regard his as the deeper 
crime, since he exposes for sale the mistress and queen of his 
office, to whom he owes fealty and obedience, like merchandise 
in the market-place, and like an unfaithful slave sells his master 
into slavery. For every magistrate is but the slave of justice. 
Moreover it is obvious that while equity is alienated by the 
seller, it does not pass to the buyer; and purchased iniquity 
passes to the buyer on such terms that it does not depart from 
the seller. And, unlike what is found in other contracts, only 
a man can sell justice who does not have it. Before the trans- 
action it slips away from the sordid seller. For is he not 
sordid who for a bribe in hand, or for one that is offered, de- 
files his conscience, and offers for sale not so much justice 
as his own soul? The teacher of the gentiles despised riches 
and honors and the many-colored trappings of the whole world 
as but dung, to the end that he might gain Christ alone, deem- 


I ee ae ee et ee ae ee 


re ee 


es ae ee ee 


star 


Puoectoticus Viarr 127 


ing that all things which bring loss of salvation are to be counted 
as uncleanness. And rightly and truly so, because nothing that 
is clean, nothing that is honorable, nothing that is fair, stands 
as an obstacle to salvation, but only base actions which, as 
they bring disgrace, are therefore unclean and certainly of no 
profit, nay rather are so hurtful that they cannot be com- 
pensated by any earthly gain. For what profits a man if he 
gain the whole world and lose his own soul? * And note that 
he did not say that the world is unprofitable merely in the case 
where it leads to loss of salvation, but also whenever glory is 
diminished. Let gems sparkle however brightly, gold glisten 
and the gay world smile with all its allurements,—still whatso- 
ever robs a man of his cleanness is sordid; whatsoever ex- 
tinguishes the beauty of his soul is infamous; whatsoever de- 
stroys his honor is shameful. Wherefore even the ancients,°® 
although they know not the Truth which brings Salvation, 
counted it as a sordid thing to sell for a price that which ought 
to be done gratuitously as part of the duty of office. And they 
so extended the interpretation of the word “price” as to include 
not merely money or any physical object, but also obeisance 
and every kind of service which is not owed for some other 
reason. For a thing which proceeds from filth, how can it be 
otherwise than filthy? An ill tree cannot bring forth good 
fruits, for the power of nature follows the principle that like 
produces fike. Further, since we have premised that the case 
of governors and of other judges is the same, they are alike 
ministers of equity and the public peace, who ought to be the 
more circumspect and cautious, and take the greater care, since 
they must expect to be weighed in the balance of Him whose 
foresight cannot be circumvented nor His justice corrupted; 
so that according to His declaration, by what judgment they 


4 Luke, ix., 25. 5 Cic, De Off., ii., 6, §§ 21-22. 


128 John of Salisbury 


have judged, they shall themselves be judged, and from the — 
Judge who is just they shall receive back their own good 
measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, 7 


into their own bosoms. 


Serer EO Ry xX rd 


OF THE OATH OF JUDGES, WITH A COMPARISON OF PITAGORAS 
AND ALEXANDER, AND IN WHAT MATTERS A JUDGE MAY 
SHOW FAVOR TO THE PARTIES BEFORE HIM ; AND CONCERN- 
ING SOPHISTICAL QUESTIONS. 


Judges should be bound to the laws by an oath,’ since they 
are always to dispense judgment in accordance with truth and 
in obedience to the laws. It is provided by the law itself 
that the awful books of the Holy Evangelists shall be placed 
before the judgment seat, and shall there remain from the be- 
ginning of a suit to the end thereof, and shall not be removed 
until the decision is handed down, to the end that the breadth 
of the whole judgment-hall may be filled with the presence of 
God Himself, inspiring all with the fear of the sacred scrip- 
tures, and with reverence; and to the further end that the in- 
vestigation of the truth may be shielded from all iniquity. Also 
the duty and religion of a judge should scrupulously banish all 
affections of flesh and blood, and eliminate anger and hatred, 
fear and friendship; for as Julius Czesar says, it is not easy for 
the mind to perceive the truth when these feelings prevail. 
Hence that proverb of Cicero’s which was so well-known among 
the ancients: “He puts off the character of a judge who puts 
on that of a friend.”? For equity, to which the judge owes 
obedience, does not know the left hand of hatred nor the right 
hand of love; because in judgments it is not permissible to de- 
viate from the right line of the truth. To make the greatest pos- 

‘ Justin., Cod., iti, 1. 14. ACiC., DecO}., iy 10, -§ 4a: 

129 


130 John of Salisbury 


sible concession to friendship, the favor of postponement may 
sometimes be granted to a friend. But even this is rare, and 
only upon the showing of good cause. Furthermore when the 
case is a doubtful one, there is always a postponement, if not 
of the trial, at least of the decision. For hasty judgments 
bring forth fruit of repentence. Wherefore the Greeks, when 
urged to render a decision before the case was clear, answered 
that their ancestors did not see the sun at the antipodes, but 
always waited for it to rise to the level of their own eyes. 
A traveller is called overhasty who before the morning star 
rises sets out upon his day’s journey in thick darkness and 
without light. 

A judge should not be intimidated by the influence or per- 
sonal importance of the litigants. Thus an action brought by 
Pitagoras was postponed permanently, and Alexander of Mace- 
don once lost a suit in’a military court; which the latter took 
in the utmost good part, thanking the judges whose good 
faith he saw demonstrated by the fact that they preferred jus- 
tice before the power of any ruler, however great. In my 
own esteem I have found nought more creditable than this in 
any story told of Alexander, whom public opinion ® asserts to 
be a great man. For myself (though I speak with no desire 
to enter into controversy with those who prefer recklessness to 
virtue), I shall always regard Pitagoras, the poor man, as 
greater than Alexander, in spite of the vast riches of the latter. 
To convert you to my way of thinking on this point, I suggest 
that you turn over the comparison of Philip and Alexander by 
Trogus Pompeius, or, if you prefer, by his abbreviator Justin.® 
He says, “Philip was a king more eager for a campaign than 
for feasting, whose greatest wealth consisted in munitions of 
war, and who was more active in the quest than in the keeping 

31 use the conjectural reading “litigatorum.” 


4 “publica opinio”—note the phrase again. See above, Bk. iv, c. 8. 
5 Justin, ix, 8, §§ 4-21. 


Policraticus V 12 131 


of riches. Therefore in the midst of daily plunder, he was 
_ always poor. He delighted equally in mercy and in treach- 
_ ery. In his eyes nothing which might lead to victory was in- 
- famous. A man alike engaging and crafty of speech, and who 
always promised more than he performed; a craftsman in the 


_ serious and the sportive. He cultivated friendships for profit 


and not for fidelity. To pretend favor where he hated, to 
_ sow hatred among those who were in agreement, to curry 
favor with both sides, was his established habit. Add to this, 
a gift of eloquence and a power of speech notable for sharp 
_ insight and shrewdness, and wherein facility did not lack for 
ornament, nor ornament for facility of invention. He was 
succeeded by his son Alexander, who was a greater man than 


his father in both his virtues and his vices. And so their 
- methods of victory were correspondingly different. The 


_ younger man made war in the open, the older by resort to 
artifice. “The one delighted in deceiving the enemy, the other 
- in routing them in open conflict. The former was more prudent 
in council, the latter more magnificent in conception. The 
father could dissimulate his anger, and generally even quell it; 
when the son’s was once kindled, there was no delay nor mod- 
eration in his revenge. Neither was addicted excessively to 
strong drink, but both had many of the sober vices. It was the 
father’s habit to rush from the banquet table against the foe 
and recklessly expose himself to danger; Alexander vented his 
rage not against the foe but against his own friends and attend- 
ants. Wherefore Philip was often brought back wounded from 
the battle-field while Alexander frequently rose from a feast 
where his friends lay slain. The former wished to reign in 
company with his friends, the latter used his power against 
them. The father preferred to be loved, the son to be feared. 
Both alike fostered letters. The father was the more shrewd, 


4 the son’s good faith was the greater. Philip was the more 


restrained in words and public speech, his son in action. The 


132 John of Salisbury 


son was the more ready and honorable in sparing the van- 
quished. The father was the more given to frugality, the son 
to luxury. By the same arts which the father had used in 
laying the foundation of world empire, the son completed the 
glory of the great work. But in one respect he surpassed the 
vices of his father and of all men of honorable birth, namely 
that he suffered from the most violent envy, so that even the 
triumphs of his father wrung tears from his eyes as if his 
father’s merit had torn from him the glory of doing all things 
himself. He even slew with his own hands, or ordered the 
immediate death penalty to be inflicted upon, those who pro- 
claimed the praises of his father’s valor.” 

Turning to Pitagoras, he was held as such an authority among 
philosophers that it sufficed for the decision of any question if 
Pitagoras was known to have taken one side or the other. 
So influential was his opinion when known in advance, that 
the opposition could never regain strength when it -was once 
published that he had taken the contrary side, and from the 
usage of those who followed his opinion, the mere use of the 
pronoun “he” signified Pitagoras. For when it was said with- 
out more, “He has said this,” we learn from Tully that the 
authority meant to be cited was Pitagoras.° Nevertheless even 
the weight of this great authority did not influence the decision 
of his case, but a postponement was granted because of the 
doubtfulness of the point in controversy, and the sentence re- 
mains suspended to this day. The issue was of this nature: 

Evallus was a wealthy young man who was desirous of learn- 
ing eloquence and the pleading of causes. For this purpose he 
placed himself under the instruction of Pitagoras, promising 
to pay the sum of money which Pitagoras had asked. Half 
was paid down before the instruction commenced, the other 
half was to be paid on the first occasion when he had argued 


6 Cic., De Natura Deorum, i. 5, § 10. 


Prettcrvoticus. hore 133 


a case before the judges and been successful. After he had 
_ been a pupil and follower of Pitagoras for a long while, and 
had improved his speaking by study, time passed and yet he 
still refused to take clients, for the purpose, it was supposed, 
of evading his obligation to make the second payment to his 
teacher. Pitagoras therefore, after taking advice, brought suit 
against him. When they appeared before the judges for the 
purpose of explaining and proving the case, Pitagoras began 
as follows: “Oh foolish youth,” said he, “learn that which- 
ever way this case is decided, you will have to pay me what I 
sue for, whether judgment is pronounced in your favor or 
against you. For if the case goes against you, the money will 
be owed me on the judgment, because I shall have prevailed in 
the suit ; but if the judgment is given in your favor, the money 
will then be owed me on our contract, because you will have 
won your first case.’ To which Evallus replied calmly: “TI 
_ might have chosen to meet your two-pronged sophism by not 
_ pleading my case myself, and employing an advocate instead. 
But there is better sport in a victory on the present terms, 
won by defeating you not merely on the point of the case but 
also in the argument. Learn, then, for your part, oh wisest 
master, that whichever way the case is decided, I shall be 
equally relieved of having to pay you what you sue for, 
whether judgment is pronounced against me or in my favor. 
For if the judges decide in my favor, then by virtue of the 
judgment I shall owe you nothing because I shall have pre- 
vailed in the suit; but if the case is decided in the opposite 
way, then by virtue of our contract I shall owe you nothing, 
for I shall not have been successful in my first case.” . Thus 
by a youthful pupil was this famous master of eloquence 
refuted in his plea and checkmated in his shrewd and care- 
fully devised sophism. Then, in the words of the old narra- 
tive, the judges, thinking that what was said on both sides 
raised a grave and inexplicable doubt, and for fear lest their de- 


134 John of Salisbury 


cision in favor of either party might defeat itself, left the case 
undecided, postponing it permanently. 

It does not make much difference for my purpose whether 
this story is told of Pitagoras or Protagoras, according to 
Quintilian and Agellius respectively; for there is no signifi- 
cance in the name so long as the point is established that a 
doubtful matter cannot be brought to final decision without 
temerity.’ For there are many sophistical questions which are 
more safely and conveniently postponed than hastened to a 
conclusion, especially in the decision of law-suits. Wherefore 
among dialecticians this is called “tractus” and the term is 
applied by the Greeks to situations where whatever you de- 
termine to be true will be found to be false.* And even 
though the result in such cases may generally be righted by the 
exceptio doli mali, and equity can sometimes relax the rigor 
of the law, nevertheless, except where urgent necessity com- 
pels otherwise, it is better in such matters to postpone decision 
than to render it. From your boyhood you have learned that 
the solution of questions which include circular positions, or 
involve latent contraries, is most difficult, unless perchance 
you regard yourself as more cunning than old Nestor. “Do 
not believe a dream,’ Agamemnon was told in a dream while 
Greece was laboring for the overthrow of Troy. The inter- 
pretation of this dream the wisest among the Greeks thought 
should be left to Jove himself. I have seen many toiling over 
the question whether a man who says, “I am lying” can be 
said to be telling the truth or not. But I have never seen any 


7A contemporary illustration of a refusal to decide a doubtful point 
is afforded by the outcome of Matilda’s appeal to Rome against the 
right of Stephen to the English crown. Stephen’s advocates raised the 
point that Matilda was illegitimate, as her mother, prior to being married 
to Henry I., had been a nun. The Pope broke off the debate and an- 
nounced that he would not decide the point or allow it to be raised again. 
Adams, Political History of England, 1066-1216, pp. 202-3. 

8 Dig, xxxv, 2, 88 


=f 


Homeoraeitcus V re 135 


who could avoid both Scilla and Caribdis unless he was contend- 
ing against a feeble or a friendly adversary. In practice-moots 
and scholastic declamations, these questions may be thrashed out 
safely. But when one of them gets into a law-court, where 
empty show of wit is repressed, and only serious matters are 
debated, an error in the reckoning of the decision cannot be 
made without endangering both the litigants and the judge. 
Nothing is better in my opinion than to postpone a danger if 
it cannot be wholly avoided. But it is the height of injustice 
to postpone suits when the interest of either litigant is thereby 
put in jeopardy, and when the difficulty of the case does not 
necessitate delay. Therefore, whatever can be expedited, should 
be; and only that postponed which requires more mature delib- 
eration. 


CHAPTE Rava 


HOW A LAW-SUIT SHOULD PROCEED, AND OF THE FORMULA OF 
THE OATH AGAINST MALICIOUS LITIGATION WHICH THE 
PLAINTIFF AND DEFENDANT ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE, AND 
OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF REFUSING TO TAKE THE OATH ; 
AND OF THE OATH OF ADVOCATES, AND OF THE PUNISH 
MENT OF FALSE PROSECUTION, CONCEALMENT OF THE 
TRUTH, AND REFUSAL TO PROCEED. 


In order that the truth of the facts may more speedily 
be brought to light, the judge does not permit the litigants, to 
wit the principal parties, to proceed to issue until they pledge 
their faith by an oath that they will insist only on justice for 
their rights, and will put all malice and chicane away from them. 
The plaintiff swears that he has brought his action with no 
vexatious purpose but because he believes that he has a good 
cause of action, and that he will do nothing with malice at any 
point in the proceedings, as by demanding unnecessary proofs 
or delays, and that he will ask only for what appears to be in 
conformity with the requirements of justice. The defendant 
then swears that he has reached the determination to resist the 
plaintiff’s claim because he thinks he has a good defense, and 
that at no point throughout the suit will he deal maliciously, 
or make any demand upon the judge or the opposing party 
except what he honestly thinks ought to be granted to fulfil the 
requirements of justice.t Both oaths contain the same final 
clause, in which the parties swear that they have not given or 


1 Justin., Cod., ii, 58, 2. 
136 


Merce, Stee Xe RAE cs pe RY 


Policraticus V 13 137 


promised to give, and that they will not give, anything either 
directly or through the medium of any third person to the 
judges or to any other persons as payment in connection with 
the case except what may lawfully be paid to the lawyers and 
to certain other persons by permission of law.? If the plain- 
tiff refuses to swear to this effect, he is non-suited and dropped 
from the action as an unjust litigant. The defendant who 
refuses to take the oath is held to have admitted the plain- 
tiff’s claim, and sentence of condemnation will be passed 
against him.* So too the lawyers, in order to insure the good 
faith of the trial, are bound by an oath at the very joinder of 
issue to observe truthfulness and good faith, swearing that 
with all their strength and ability they will seek to procure for 
their clients what they deem to be just and in accordance with 
the truth, and without remission of zeal so far as in them lies, 
and also that they will not use their ingenuity to prolong the 
suit unduly. For suits should be terminated by the judges 
within two or three years.° 

The judge will also equalize the lawyers by a fair allotment 
among the parties, whether the latter have sought them or not, 
in order that the case may go forward as an equal contest. 
This equality consists both in integrity of character and quick- 
ness of intelligence, in sagacity of counsel, reputation for 
knowledge, and in the impressiveness of a man’s name, so that 
all these advantages, so far as possible, are to be balanced be- 
tween the parties by the beam of equity. But if the fame of 
one advocate is more illustrious than all the rest, the adverse 
party should so far as possible be compensated by the aid of 
the judge.© Moreover a lawyer who knows the secrets. of one 
of the litigants will not be allowed to serve as advocate for his 
opponent, unless perchance one party with or without the conni- 
vance of the judge has dealt separately with several lawyers in 


2 Nov. cxxiv., i. 3 Justin., Cod., ii, 58, 2 §§ 6-8. 
4 Justin., Cod., ili, Tela. § 4. 5 Ibid. ili, I, 13: 6 Ibid. it, 6, 7s 


138 John of Salisbury 


order to deprive the other of the opportunity of an equal de- 
fense.’ 

Nor can a lawyer after a warning from the judge refuse 
without probable cause to represent a party unless he is willing 
to be debarred from the courts so that afterward he may not 
be heard to plead causes. And if an advocate has concealed 
the truth he should receive on conviction the severest punish-. 
ment, proportioned to the nature of the offence. The duty of 
advocacy must be performed with the utmost good faith and 
without abuse of the opposite side. or it is a contest of rea- 
sons, not of insults, and in accordance with the edict of the 
prince the advocate suffers loss of reputation who, leaving the 
business in hand, digresses into wanton malice against his ad- 
versary, openly or underhandedly.? Although a fee is due 
to the advocate by way of an honorarium, it is not lawful for 
him to be an instigator or purchaser of litigation by bargaining 
for the payment of a share of the amount in controversy, to 
the serious damage, and as it were robbery, of the suitor.’® 
Whatever the advocate has alleged in the presence of his prin- 
cipal is thereafter to be considered as if it came from the prin- 
cipal himself unless he contradicts it immediately, that is to 
say within the next three days. Although it chances that 
the advocate is defeated, his reputation is in no wise damaged 
if he has not failed to make the best of his opportunities, and 
has faithfully furthered his client’s rights; for the advocate 
is not required to lie. If the case brings any loss or hurt, it 
falls upon the litigants, whether it is a civil or criminal action. 
This is determined ultimately by the final decision, which con- 
demns or acquits the defendants, and at times deliberately and 
with good reason pours upon the plaintiffs themselves the 
shafts of severity. For, to say nothing of civil cases, in which, 

CE Justiti., W0d., al, Ryne 8 Justin., Cod., ii, 6, 7, § 2. 


9 Justin., Cod., ii, 6. 6, § 1. 10 Justin., Cod., ii, 6, 5. 
11 Justin., Cod., ii, 9, §§ 1-3. 


Polcraticus VI 3 139 


however, the same rule prevails, the rashness of those who 
make accusations improperly is detected in three ways and sub- 
ject to three kinds of punishment.'* For they are either “calum- 
niators,” or “prevaricators,” or “tergiversators.” A “calumnia- 
tor” is one who brings a false accusation; a “prevaricator”’ is 
one who conceals the truth; a “tergiversator”’ is one who re- 
fuses altogether to prosecute the charge. By the lex Rema 
calumniators are required to undergo the same punishment as 
that prescribed for the crime named in the accusation, pro- 
vided, however, that after the defendant has been acquitted, 
there must be a determination of the accuser’s knowledge and 
intention, and if he merely fell into a reasonable error, he must 
be acquitted. But if he is detected in evident malice, he is 
condemned to the punishment prescribed by law. This is in- 
dicated by the language of the sentence pronounced; for if the 
words are, “You have not made proof,” the plaintiff or prose- 
cutor is acquitted ; but if they are “You are guilty of calumny,” 
he is condemned; and though the penalty does not directly 
carry infamy with it, nevertheless the power of the law will 
be exercised against him so that infamy may result. 


12 Dig. xviii, 16, 1, §§ 1-4. 


CHA PT ER 
CONCERNING THE RATIONALE OF PROOFS. 


In discussing the matters which are to be given weight 
in civil as in criminal cases we must consider the kinds of proofs 
which must be examined to determine whether a case has been 
established. The term “proof” is applied to all the means by 
which a case can be established, whether written depositions or 
witnesses; the latter have greater weight than the former, be- 
cause witnesses are preferred to written depositions.? For 
while witnesses can be examined and tested, written depositions 
are always and in the eyes of all the same. But in examining 
witnesses and weighing their testimony no definite rule can be 
laid down to determine which the judge ought rather to follow. 
For if all the witnesses are equal in social position and reputa- 
tion, and if the nature of the transaction and the inclination of 
the judge agrees with them, all the testimony should be followed. 
But if some have said one thing and others another, though 
the number is unequal, that is to be believed which squares best 
with the nature of the transaction, and affords no suspicion of 
the taint of hostility or partiality; and the judge will confirm 
the inclination of his own mind from the inferences and evi- 

1 Dig. xvi., 99, §§ 2, 3. 

2 Dig. xxii, 5, 3, §3, testibus, non testimoniis erediturum. In this 
connection testimonium apparently means the deposition of an absent 
witness,—what is elsewhere called testimonium per tabulas. Bethmann- 
Hollweg (Civilprocess, ii, 590,) thinks that under the Republic and 
earlier Empire such depositions were regarded as less trustworthy than 
oral testimony (see Quintilian, V, vii, 1, 2); but that later, written 


evidence came to be preferred (Civilprocess, iii, 279). 
140 


Piolactraticus V..1 4 I4I 


dence which he finds most consistent with the facts and closest 
to the truth. For regard is to be had not to the number of 
witnesses, but to their good faith, and to the testimony which 
seems to be best supported by the light of truth. [Frequently 
also the case will stand upon presumptions until the contrary is 
proved. Thus Salomon, in the case of the harlots, ordered the 
child to be divided; and when one of them was willing to yield 
it to the other if only its life were spared, but the other cried 
out, “Let it be neither mine nor thine, but let it be divided”’ 
—he decided that the child should be given alive to the one who 
was not willing that, being alive, it should be put to death. 
For he followed the argument from probability that he ought 
to believe that she was the mother who loved the child, so long 
as no contrary proof destroyed that supposition or assumption. 
Therefore the deified Adrian made a rescript which extended 
the power of the judge in the examination of witnesses. The 
words of the text are as follows: “You are best able to judge 
the credit which is to be given witnesses, since you know what 
their standing and reputation is, and have seen directly whether 
they seem to be telling the same prepared story which they 
have all brought ready-made into court or whether they have 
answered with apparent truth on the spur of the moment the 
questions which you have put to them. What inferences and 
proofs are sufficient to establish each point cannot be satisfac- 
torily defined in any rigid or uniform way. Sometimes the 
number of witnesses, sometimes their standing and influence, 
sometimes the concurrence of common report, confirms the 
trustworthiness of the matter in question. All, then, that I 
can reply to you is in substance that reliance ought not to be 
immediately placed on any one species of proof, but that in 
accordance with the judgment of your own mind you must de- 
termine what to believe and what to regard as not sufficiently 
proved.” ? Therefore wide power is given to the judge so 


8 Dig. xxii, 5, 3, §$1, 2. 


142 John of Salisbury 


long as in all things he serves the truth; and when he perceives, 
as is generally the case, that it is in jeopardy among rascals, 
he shall summon the witnesses who are necessary to declare it, 
and compel them to testify even though they are unwilling, with 
only the exception of those whom the laws will not compel 
to testify against certain persons. 


a) 


Are ae eK? 


Caries Ped: FRX V, 


WHAT THINGS PERTAIN TO THE DUTY OF PROCONSULS, GOV- 
ERNORS, AND ORDINARY JUDGES; AND HOW FAR PRESENTS 
MAY BE OFFERED AND ACCEPTED, AND CONCERNING CICERO, 
BERNARD, MARTIN AND GAUFRED OF CHARTRES. 


It pertains to the sacred duty of a governor to take care that 


the more powerful do not oppress the more humble wrongfully, 


and that those who should be defenders of the innocent do not 
instead persecute them with feigned accusations.’ He will also 
prohibit unfounded exactions, and acts of violence, and sales 
compelled under duress, and contracts of security made with- 
out the payment of money ;” and will take care not to burden his 
province by his excessive hospitality ;* and lastly will provide 
that no one gains profit or suffers damage unjustly. For it is 
the part of a good and grave governor to see that his province 
is peaceful and quiet ;* which he. will easily bring to pass if he 
acts watchfully to rid the province of bad men, and to that end 
hunts them down and drives them out. For he should hunt 
down men guilty of sacrilege, robbers, thieves, and kidnappers, 
and chastise each for his crimes as well as those who harbor 
them, and without whose aid the robber cannot long remain 
concealed. Further, every man whose task is to administer 


1 Dig. i., 18, 6, § 2. 

2 Dig. i., 18, 6, init. Flach suggests that the practice here prohibited 
may have been one of the reasons which during the days of the later 
Empire induced many smaller proprietors to solicit the “patrocinium” of 
their more powerful neighbors, thus paving the way for feudalism. 
(Les Origines de l’ancienne France, t. i., p. 72). 

3 Dig. i, 16, 4, init. 4 Dig. i, 18, 13. 

143 


144 John of Salisbury 


justice should take care to be easy of access but not in such a 
way as to bring himself into contempt. Wherefore a clause 
is added to the commissions of governors bidding them not to 
admit provincials to too great familiarity; for association on 
equal terms produces contempt for a man’s dignity. And, in 
short, he should so mete out justice as to increase the authority 
of his office by his talents and character. In hearing cases 
he ought not to burst out in anger against those whom he thinks 
wrong-doers, nor on the other hand be brought to tears by the 
petitions of the unfortunate ; for it is not the part of a firm and 
just judge to display his emoticns in his face. For what is more 
unseemly in a grave man than if at a breath his cheeks grow 
pale, his skin contracts into wrinkles, his eyes flash, his looks are 
distracted; or if wrath brings the blood to his face, and as it 
were confines it to the surface, his lips foam and twitch, his 
arms toss about, his feet jump, his body quivers and his whole 
bearing betokens not so much an irate man as a mad man? 
Truly, when I see men acting so, I pity them while fearing for 
myself, when I remember the men who live in Africa, as I have 
read in Pliny, in his book of Natural History.® For they are 
said to have a magic power of fascinating with voice or tongue, 
so that if any has chanced thoughtlessly to praise their beautiful 
trees, generous crops, laughing children, fine horses, well-fed 
and well-kept cattle, he will suddenly die or in some way be 
made to lose his life. There is also a kind of fascination by 
means of the eyes which is fatal. The same author reports that 
there are men among the Illyrians who can slay by their gaze 
those at whom they have looked long in anger, and that those 
males and females who have this power of harmful sight have 
two pupils in each eye. Appollonides also informs us that in 
Sitia women are born who are called “Bithiz,”’ and that these 
likewise have two pupils in each eye, and can destroy anyone 
at whom they chance to look in anger. I fear that irascible 


5 Pliny vii, 2, § 16. 


t ig 
dy 


Policraticus Virs 145 


judges are somehow related to these monsters. Those, too, 
who have spotted eyes are said by physiognomists to be more 
than others prone to badness. 

What I have said concerning governors and other judges 
should apply also to proconsuls, whom our countrymen com- 
monly call itinerant or “wandering” justices. The name is er- 
roneous, but still it fits, if not the office, at least the persons, 
because, following their own desires in pursuit of avarice, 
they “wander” from the path of equity and plunder the 
people.® 

The duties of every office should be performed gratuitously, 
without the exaction or receipt of aught in excess of the statute. 
Perhaps you will ask what the statute provides. It is con- 
tained in a plebiscite which enacts that no governor shall receive 
a gift or donation except of food and drink, and that this must 
be consumed within the next few days.‘ The same rule is ex- 
tended to proconsuls and other magistrates by the prince’s 
commission. ‘They are not obliged to abstain wholly from ac- 
cepting friendly presents, but to observe moderation in doing so. 
This permission, and the accompanying requirement of modera- 
tion, are appropriately defined in a letter of the deified Severus 
and the Emperor Antoninus. The words of this letter are as 
follows: “So far as pertains to presents, hear what our opin- 
ion is. There is an old proverb, ‘Not all things, nor at all times, 
nor from all persons.’ [or certainly it passes human nature not 
to accept from anyone; but there can be nought more vile than 
to accept from everyone; nor more avaricious than to accept. for 
any and every reason. A provision is contained in our mandates 


6 For criticism of the itinerant justices in England, particularly in the 
matter of bribe-taking, see, for the twelfth century, Walter Map (who 
was himself an itinerant justice), “De Nugis Curialium,” I., x., (tr. 
Tupper and Ogle, pp. 7 ff.) ; for the thirteenth century, Maitland, “Brac- 
ton’s Note Book,” vol. 4., pp. 15—16, and references to Matthew Paris 
there cited. 

7 Dig. i, 18. 18. 


146 John of Salisbury 


that no proconsul or holder of other office shall accept a gift or 
donation, or buy anything, except for the sake of subsistence _ 
from day to day, but this does not apply to friendly presents but 
to those things which go beyond eatables. Such presents, how- 
ever, are not to be enlarged to the nature of donations.” ° 

Though an advocate can sell his proper services and a jurist 
his good advice, it is never lawful to sell justice. When Cicero 
wished to buy a house on the Palatine and had not the money at 
hand, he secretly accepted a loan of two million sisterces from 
Silla, who was then a defendant under accusation. Before the 
house was bought, the matter was betrayed and became public ; 
and he was reproached with having accepted money from a 
defendant for the purpose of buying a house. Cicero, discon- 
certed by the unexpected charge, denied that he had received any 
money, saying that he had no intention of buying a house; 
“Vour accusation is so false,” he said, “that if I do buy a house, 
it will be true that I have taken the money.” Later, after he 
had bought the house and was charged with the lie by his enemies 
in the senate, he laughed heartily, and, still laughing, said; 
“You are certainly foolish men if you do not know that it is the 
part of a prudent and cautious pater-familias when he wishes 
to buy anything, to deny that he intends to do so for fear of pos- 
sible competitors.” Thus with an urbane witticism he explained 
away what he could not deny, making it appear rather a matter 
for laughter than for blame. Indeed this was his habit, when- 
ever he could not deny some dishonorable act with which he was 
charged, to evade it by a witty answer. 

The Supreme Pontiff Eugenius, whom you yourself have 
seen and whose memory is to be embraced and his holiness im- 
itated, refused altogether to receive any gift from a litigant, 
or from one whom he thought likely soon to become a litigant. 
Wherefore, when at his accession a certain prior of moderate 


8 Dig. i, 16. 6 § 3. 


Potscraticus Vos 147 


means, whose case he had not yet heard, offered him with much 
insistence a mark of gold as a token of his devotion, he said to 
him: “You have not yet entered the house and do you seek 
already to corrupt the master?” For the holy man regarded as 
corruption whatever was offered to the judge while the suit was 
pending. Also Bernard, the monk of Clairvaux, who was 
deacon of Saints Cosmas and Damian, and cardinal, while 
living at Rome dwelled apart on the heights, withholding his 
hands from every gift, so that the man is not yet born whose 
gold or silver he ever accepted. Why should I mention Martin, 
who contrary to all custom and experience returned as a poor 
man from discharging an embassy as papal legate, and when he 
was forced by the insistence of the bishop of Florence to ac- 
cept a horse which was needed by one of his companions, re- 
stored it to the donor immediately upon learning that the bishop 
at the date of the gift had a case which was pending for hear- 
ing in the Roman Church? All of which is more fully told by 
holy Bernard, the abbot of Clairvaux, who knew him well, in 
the instructive book “Concerning Contemplation or Reflection” 
which he wrote for holy Eugenius. I shall pass over the fact 
that the venerable father Gaufred of Chartres, the legate of 
Aquitaine, refused to receive gifts from the provincials except 
in the way of food and drink, and the latter most sparingly ; but 
whatever was offered to him in the guise of a present he spurned 
as dung. The Saint of Clairvaux bears witness that he even 
refused to accept from a faithful priest of his suite the present 
of a fish, which is commonly called a sturgeon, and yielded to 
the insistence of the offeror only after he had paid him the price 
of the present which he accepted.® 


9St. Bernard, De Consideratione, iv, 5, 14. 


CHAPTER Ia 


OF THE CRIME OF EXTORTION, WHEREOF GOVERNORS AND JUDGES. 
ARE GUILTY WHO ACCEPT ANYTHING FOR DOING WHAT IT IS 
THE DUTY OF THEIR OFFICE TO DO; AND OF SAMUEL, WHO 
TEACHES THAT THERE SHOULD BE CONTINUAL SACRIFICE IN 
THE HOUSE OF A JUDGE, WHICH SHOULD SHOW ITSELF TO 
BE A TEMPLE OF GOD BY OFFERINGS OF JUSTICE AND GOOD 
WORKS. : 


But such examples of self-restraint are extremely rare even 
among the clergy in this day of increasing vices, although the 
highest measure of self-restraint 1s enjoined on all magistrates 
by the law. So great is its severity on this point that one who 
has held an ordinary office will be sent back to the province and 
there compelled to make good out of his own means whatever 
damage he did in excess of his former authority, besides being 
condemned to loss of reputation and fortune, honor and dignity. 
Furthermore, the penalties of the lex Julia concerning extor- 
tion apply to one who while holding any office has accepted 
money for hearing a case or not hearing it, deciding or not de- 
ciding, summoning a witness or failing to summon him, and 
in short for doing anything more or less than is required by the 
duty of his office. Nor can he usucapt what he has received, un- 
less it has first passed back into the power of the former owner or 
his heir. The same law also invalidates all sales and leases made 
at too high or too low a figure, and prohibits one who is found 
guilty of any of these things from giving testimony in court or 


1 Dig, xlviii, 11, 3. 


148 


Peeeariivcous Virk. « 149 


serving as a judge or bringing an action; and though today they 
are tried and punished by the extraordinary procedure, they are 
generally condemned to exile or some penalty even more severe, 
in proportion to the gravity of their offence. Furthermore, a 
penalty is even exacted of their heirs. Examine the words of 
the law ® and observe with what indignation it hunts down this 
crime: “To the end that the punishment of one may be an 
example and warning for many, we have commanded that a 
governor * who has acquitted himself ill shall return to the 
province which he has despoiled under a competent guard, and 
shall there be compelled to repay fourfold the value not merely 
of what, I do not say any personal servant, but any private 
soldier or agent of his may have received by way of presents, 
and also of all that he himself has seized or stolen from my 
provincials,’’ and likewise, “All attorneys, and all judges, shall 
keep their hands off the money and estates of others, and shall 
not think to make plunder out of the law-suit of another. For 
an attorney who acts for his own gain shall be compelled to sub- 
mit to the penalty prescribed by the laws.’’ And further: “We 
recommend and exhort that if any of the honoratt, or decuriones, 
or possessores, or finally if any even of the coloni, has been made 
the victim of extortion in any way by a judge of any rank; if 
any one knows that a penalty has been remitted for a bribe or 
inflicted because of the vice of cupidity; finally if any one can 
prove that a judge is corrupt for any reason, let the person 
having such knowledge make the fact public either during the 
administration of the judge or after he has laid down his office, 
let him file an accusation, let him prove the charge, and by prov- 
ing it win victory and glory.’” Would that these words might 
at least make themselves heard in our own times; for I scarcely 
dare hope that they would be followed. Indeed, as often as I 
look closely, I seem to see rather extortioners than judges, as if 
they were given to a province only to the end that they might de- 


2 Justin., Cod., ix, 27, 1-4. 8 ducem. 


DEO - John of Saltseiaes 


spoil it. Even the laws and customs themselves under which 
we now live are traps and gins of falsehood. Snares for words 
and nets for syllables are stretched everywhere; woe to the 
simple-minded man who does not know how to syllabize! It 
it written, “I have done justice and judgment; give me not up 
to false accusers” ;4 as if it were said in plain speech, “Those 
who pervert judgment and depart from justice are to be handed 
over to the false accuser who day and night accuses the sons of 
Adam in the sight of God.” We read in the book of Kings that 
Samuel said to all Israel: ® “Behold, I have hearkened to your 
voice and have heard all the things which you have spoken to 
me, and I have set a king over you. And now the king leads 
you; I am old and my hair is white; further, my sons are with 
you; so I have dealt with you from my youth even to this day. 
Behold me, here I stand. Speak concerning me before the 
Lord and His anointed, whether I have ever taken from any his 
ox or his ass, whether I ever accused any falsely, whether I ever 
oppressed any, whether I ever accepted a gift from the hand of 
any; and today I will despise that thing and make restitution 
thereof.” Oh spirit full of shamefaced modesty! oh hand of 
self-restraint! oh uncorrupted judge! oh magnificent words 
worthy of the admiration and imitation of all, which are thus 
spoken out of a pure conscience! “Speak concerning me be- 
fore God and His anointed,” who judge judges in Heaven and 
on earth—‘Speak,” he says, “whether I took from any his ox 
or his ass.” Surely this man did not extort villas and lands, 
or immense sums of gold or silver, or masses of costly fur- 
niture and apparel, who accounted it as so great a thing for 
a judge even to have accepted the offering of an ox or ass. “Tf 
ever I accused any falsely, if ever I oppressed any,’—he has 
harassed none unjustly, who has kept himself guiltless of ac- 
cusing any falsely ; nor was his judgment perverted by flesh and 


4: Ps, cxixy 121, 57 Sam. xii, I-3. 


Poutcraticus V.r6é I51 


blood who never oppressed any. For if any fell into his hands, 
it was not the judge but the man’s own wickedness that con- 
demned him. “If ever I accepted a gift from the hand of any, 
today I will despise that thing and make restitution thereof.” 
What, I ask, could be more plain-spoken? Finally, to remove 
all suspicion of avarice, he shows that he had no knowledge 
of having received any gift by his readiness to despise and re- 
store it if there were aught at all that could be demanded back. 
For he preferred to restore it presently rather than return it 
with usury in the future, and he judged it better to despise it 
today than because of it to appear contemptible for eternity in 
the sight of God and all the elect. What did his hearers reply 
to this challenge? Hear what they replied,—‘And they said,—” 
Who said? The whole people of Israel together; for he had 
addressed his words to all,—“Thou hast not accused us falsely, 
nor oppressed us, nor taken aught from the hand of any man.” ® 
If ever any proconsul, or governor, or tribune, or centurion, or 
decurion or, in short any magistrate whatsoever merited such 
testimony from his provincials, I ask that he may come to our 
province to the end that he may instruct our magistrates. For 
nothing of this kind is heard concerning our sheriffs and our 
justices, who, to use our common name for them, are rightly 
called “errant” because they love gifts and follow after hire, 
and do not deliver the poor man from the powerful, do not 
give judgment in favor of the stranger and the orphan, nor 
does the case of the widow ever come before them. Moreover, 
neither do the ecclesiastical judges follow Samuel, for as is the 
people, so is the priest. Wisdom complains aloud: ‘‘They 
that handle the law have not known me; princes have arisen and 
I knew it not.” * To illustrate the same point by examples 
drawn from the lower ranks of the clergy, what else are deacons 
or archdeacons (as Symon our venerable teacher in the law 


6] Sam, xii, 4. * Jer. ii, 8; Hos, viii, 4. . 


ine John of Salisbury 


of God was wont to say), but men in whose hands are iniquities 
and their right hand is filled with bribes? Ask our most happy 
king of England and as yet unconquered duke of the Normans 
and of Aquitania what his honest opinion is of those whom he 
thrusts into the offices of the church, and he will say, I think, 
that there is no malady in the clergy of which such men are not 
the cause. 

Bishops hold a venerable name and office if it were only filled 
with as much diligence and sincerity as it is at times sought with 
ambition. And they would be loved as fathers, feared as lords, 
worshipped as saints, would they but refrain from exactions, 
and exclude from their minds whatever proceeds from trickery, 
and if they would cease to count all gain as godliness. But as 
it is, they deprive themselves of all reverence and love by their 
ambition for honors, and their greed for money, and by either 
contriving intrigues of their own or furthering those of others. 
Nor do I know in what way they can escape infamy and punish- 
ment when they claim for themselves a “rake-off,” and one 
which is equal to at least two-thirds of the whole ill-gotten gain. 
For they either appropriate the solid pound, or, as is frequently 
the case, leave only the third part thereof to the archdeacons 
and other officials, if I call them such and do not rather use 
the language of the people, who call them ministers of iniquity. 
Not even legates of the Apostolic See keep their hands pure 
from gifts, but at times rage through the provinces in such 
bacchanalian frenzy as if Satan himself had come forth from 
the presence of the Lord to scourge the Church. They shake 
the corners of the house until they prostrate the sons and daugh- 
ters of Him who upon the cross healed the ills and pains of 
souls. They throw the land into commotion and uproar so that 
they seem to be suffering from some disease which cries aloud 
for a cure. I am not speaking, of course, of all, but of those 
who, scorning the will of the Father, serve their own. For it 
appears that in every office of God’s household while some fall 


Poecrattcus Vo 316 153 


behind, others are added to do their work. Among all of these, 
accordingly, both deacons, archdeacons, bishops, and legates, I 
have seen some who labored with such earnestness in the harvest 
of the Lord that from the merits of their faith and virtue it 
could be seen that the vineyard of the Father had been rightly 
placed under their care, and prudently and profitably. But 
others conduct themselves as if Thesephone or Megera were sent 
from the underworld to stir up Thebes to wickedness.* For the 
most part such men have been promoted by the court to the 
offices of the church against the unanimous wishes of the faith- 
ful. In the eyes of these men 


“Judgment is nought but public merchandise. 
And the knight who judges a case gives whatsoever decision is 
bought and paid for.” ® | 


They decide in favor of the unjust in return for bribes, they 
exult in the worst wickedness, rejoice when evil is done, 


“And can scarce restrain their tears when they see nought to 
provoke tears.’ 1° 


Verily they feed on the sins of the people and are clothed therein, 
and luxuriate therein in manifold ways, these respecters of per- 
sons, and as it were hammers of the good; for this they have 
learned from those who chose them. Wisdom says: “The wild 
ass in the desert is the prey of the lion, and so are the poor the 
food of the rich., And.as humility is an abomination in the eyes 
of the haughty, so is the poor man abhorred by the rich. The 
rich man when in trouble will find strength in his friends; but 
when a humble man falls, he is driven away by those who know 
him. If the rich man is cozened he has many to aid him; he 
speaks proudly and they justify him. When the man of poor 


8 Statius, Thebaid xi, 57-61. 
9 Petron., Sat. c.. 14. 10 Ovid., Metam., ii, 796. 


154 John of Salisbury 


estate is cozened, he is only blamed therefor; he speaks wisely 
and no place is made for him. The rich man speaks, and all 
keep silence, and extol even to the clouds what he said; the poor 
man speaks, and they say, ‘Who is this man?’ and if he stumble, 
they destroy him.” 1! Such are the judgments of those who 
prefer lucre to justice and deem nought better than to have 
riches, than which, in truth, almost nothing is more vain and 
useless. None of them rejoices when he sees Christ on earth, 
there is none among them who wishes Him to go abroad among 
men, none who at the good works of his neighbors sings, “Glory 
to God inthe highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” ™ 
Yet surely this is the song of faithful prelates who walk with 
feet which are beautiful and forever blessed because they bring 
peace, the peace which is allied to the holiness without which 
none shall see God. These say with Wisdom that “he is a man 
of true riches that hath no sin upon his conscience, and the worst 
poverty is in the mouth of the ungodly.” ** They proclaim in 
the market-place that “he is the blessed man who is found with- 
out spot, and who has not gone astray after gold.” ** Which is 
as if they should say in plain language, “Whoever in filling the 
post of any magistracy seeks after gold, stains himself with a 
stigma without which gold cannot be acquired nor retained by a 
ereedy owner.” For whoever long trafficked in money with- 
out soiling his hands? Yet it is not so much his hand that he 
soils therefrom as his soul. I have no desire that the thresholds 
of the great shall become chilly towards me or that what I here 
write should sound like the barking of a dog; I do not set my 
mouth against heaven or desire to say ought save what is full. 
of loyalty, charity and reverence toward the fathers of the 
Church who judge the world and are judged by none on 
earth. Nevertheless I mean to say that which is so true that 
none of the faithful dare gainsay it; I shall say what they them- 


11 Eccli. xiii, 23-29. 12 Luke ii, 14. 
13 Eccli. xiii, 30. 14 ib, xxxi, 8. 


mroreervaiztcus Vir6é hes 


selves preach. I shall say then that a city can not be hidden 
which is set upon a hill, and that it is vain to try to keep from 
public knowledge things which are done in the sight of the na- 
tions; indeed, 


“Every sin incurs a more conspicuous condemnation 
In proportion as the offender holds a higher rank.” 1° 


Salt that has lost its savor is good for nought but to be cast away 
and trampled under foot by men as worthless refuse which is not 
even of value for manuring the fields. Also the sun gives more 
light in proportion as it is higher above the earth. Why should 
Isay more? The works of individuals testify concerning them. 
So Samuel was justified by the testimony of his own works. 
But that the people might not be thought to flatter him and 
from fear or error to give false testimony regarding his in- 
nocence and justice, he desired that the people should be bound 
by the sanction of an oath to declare the truth, and he said, 
“The Lord is my witness against you, and His anointed is my 
witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand. 
And the people said, ‘He is witness’’’; *® as if they pledged the 
faith which they owed to God and to their king as a pledge of 
the sincerity of their declaration. That he ever accepted a gift 
even of food and drink I do not regard as certain from the 
scripture. For it is written: “And Samuel judged Israel all 
the days of his life and every year he went about to Bethel and 
Galgala and Masphat, and he judged Israel in the aforesaid 
places, and then returned to Ramatha. For there was his house 
and there he judged Israel.’ ** What else do the words seem to 
mean than that he made an official circuit of the province for the 
purpose of administering justice, and then returned home to 
satisfy his own necessities? ‘Also he built there an altar to the 
Lord.” 18 And rightly so, because there should be unceasing 


15 Juv., Sat. vii, 140-141. 26:1 Sami eit S 
177 Sam. xii, 15-17. 435[- Sam. vii, 17: 


156 John of Salisbury 


sacrifice in the house of a judge, which should show itself as a 
very temple of God in the worship and practice of justice, and 
and in propriety of manners, and in the shining example ot good 
works ; not a place where the blood of goats and calves is offered 
up immoderately, nor can the ashes of a heifer sanctify the un- 
clean to the cleansing of their flesh, but this can only be wrought 
by the great pontiff who has pierced the heavens, Jesus the Son 
of God; and there of all places should be offered up 


A spirit composed to justice and religion, and the secret depths 
Of a holy mind and a heart steeped in generous virtue.*® 


It is thus that true worshippers worship the Father in spirit 
and in truth. 

Or do you think that he accepted aught under the name of 
“fees”? For under this pretext men seek to color iniquity who 
are not so much judges as publicans of justice, but who strive 
to excuse their wrong-doing under color of honest privilege as 
though they were but seeking some portion of the profits from 
transactions of which they partially bear the burdens. Or if 
profit is not permitted, at least there should be compensation for 
outlays and expenses. But these men are rare. For will not 
a man blush to say, “What wilt you give me if I do justice for 
you? For you will wait in vain for justice on its own ac- 
count.” Is it not as if one should say: “What will you give 
me that I shall deny myself, betray my duty, and sell my 
master?” 


19 Pers., Sat. il, 73-74. 


Peer TL IeR eX Mv Tl 


THAT MONEY IS TO BE DESPISED IN COMPARISON WITH WIS- 
DOM; WHICH IS PROVED BY EXAMPLES OF THE ANCIENT 
PHILOSOPHERS. 


We read that most of the philosophers not only despised riches 
but utterly discarded them, as being a stumbling block to wis- 
dom and virtue. Thus did Socrates, whom all sects of phi- 
losophers unite in reverencing as the unique fountain of pru- 
dence and truth. It is said that Antistenes, who had made a 
great reputation as a teacher of rhetoric, after he heard Socrates, 
said to his pupils, “Go, get yourself a master, for I have found 
mine.” And he at once sold all that he owned, and distributed 
the proceeds among the people, keeping for himself nought save 
a paltry cloak. His most famous follower was the well-known 
Diogenes, who showed himself a mightier man than king Alex- 
ander, and a victor over human nature itself. Since Antistenes 
was no longer receiving pupils, but could not get rid of Diogenes, 
who persisted in following him, he finally threatened him with 
a stick if he did not go away. But Diogenes is said to have 
bowed his head meekly before him and replied: “No stick can 
be so hard as to separate me from your company.” Satirus, 
who writes the histories of famous men, relates that Diogenes 
used a double cloak on account of the cold, and for his larder had 
a wallet which he always carried about with him, and that be- 
cause of the frailness of his body he also carried a stick, where- 
with, being now an old man, he was wont to support his legs, 
and was commonly called a beggar, or “hand-to-mouth man,” 

157 


158 John of Salisbury 


because he asked and received food for the present hour from 
any chance person whom he met. He lived in the vestibules of 
gates and in city porticos, everywhere preaching truth and cor- 
recting or denouncing in passers-by the vices which defile the 
character. And when he wound himself up in a barrel or 
great jar, he used to say jocularly that he had a movable house 
and one which changed and adapted itself to the seasons. For 
in cold weather he turned the mouth of the jar to the south, 
in hot weather to the north; and whatever was the direction of 
the sun, thither faced the mansion of Diogenes. Once when 
he was carrying a wooden cup for use in drinking, he saw a boy 
drinking out of the hollow of his hand, and he dashed the cup 
to the ground, saying: “To think that I did not discover be- 
fore this that nature had provided her own cup!’ He never re- 
laxed aught of the vigor of his mind, but persisted in keeping 
the same unmoved countenance even when opponents were hurl- 
ing qustions at him, and, what you will recognize as marking the 
true disciple of Socrates, he crushed the adverse turns of fortune — 
under foot, enduring every pain and misery with uniform self- 
command. For he said that such things are always of no con- 
cern to a philosopher, and that the man is not master of his own 
mind who permits himself to be injured by fortune. His man- 
liness and restraint are also shown by the manner of his death. 
For when in his old age he was making his way to the Olympic 
games, whereto thronged a great multitude from all the parts of 
Greece, he was stricken on the way with a fever, and laid him- 
self down upon an embankment by the wayside. His friends 
wished to put him upon a beast or into a carriage, but he refused, 
and crossing over to the shade of a tree, said to them: “I ask 
you to leave me here and go on to the spectacle. This night will 
prove me victor or vanquished; if I conquer the fever, I shall 
come on to the games; if it conquers me, I shall go down to 
the underworld.” And there, during the night, he strangled 
himself, saying that he was not so much dying as rather putting 


perecy Gitcus WV 17 159 


an end to the fever by death. For he was misled by the opin- 
ion and example of brave men, when cornered by some ex- 
treme difficulty, into the idea that death should be sought of a 
man’s own volition to prevent having it thrust upon him by an 
outside force. Indeed the latter opinion had become an estab- 
lished conviction or prejudice which led many wise men to be- 
lieve that they should choose to provoke death rather than 
endure dishonor. ‘This was done by Cato, it was done by others, 
who anticipating fate by the sword, or the hemlock, or some 
other kind of poison, sought to escape the slightest stigma of 
dishonor, which alone they esteemed a stigma. These men can 
plead ignorance of the Truth as their defence; but surely it is a 
gross and poor-spirited attitude which postpones certainties to 
uncertainties, and casts away and drives out the best that men 
have for a fruitless object. Nor do they thereby attain to the 
name of bravery, which their deceitful opinion boasts that above 
all else it wins forthem. But this is wholly deceitful and untrue, 
because, as the poet says, 


“In the midst of adversity it is an easy thing to despise life; 
He does the braver thing who can dare to be miserable.” 1 


None of those who provoke death is excusable; more excusable 
are they who draw back from it when it threatens; for who 
knows the secret counsels of God and whether or not he can in 
any way escape impending death? Sandrococtus, when or- 
dered by king Alexander to be put to death, sought safety in 
the swiftness of his feet; and afterwards, as he lay overcome 
with sleep from weariness, a lion of gigantic size came and stood 
by him as he slept, and with its tongue licked the sweat that 
flowed from him, and left him after gently waking him. From 
this marvellous happening he first conceived the hope of royal 
power, because of the majestic nature of the portent. Later, 


1 Martial, xi, 56, 1l., 15-16. 


160 John of Salisbury 


while he was making war against Alexander’s prefects, an 
elephant of mammoth size came and offered itself to him, and, 
as though overcome with gentleness, took him upon its back, 
and he ultimately became a leader in war and a famous general. 
Likewise Andronicus, when he was condemned to the beasts, 
was thrown before a lion which drew to it the eyes of all the 


spectators because of the huge size of its body, the fury of its. 


onrush, its terrific and resounding roar, and the swelling muscles 
and curling mane of its great neck; but he escaped unharmed, 
for when the lion looked at him from afar, it suddenly halted and 
stood as if in amazement, and then walked up to him slowly and 
quite peacefully, and in a playful way. Then it gently and 
mildly wagged its tail like an affectionate dog, and clasping 
the body of the man, who was now almost dead with fright, 
licked his legs and hands softly with its tongue, so that the 
man, who had almost lost his mind at the caresses of the fierce 
beast, was able to collect himself and little by little open his eyes 
and look at the lion. Apion relates that he saw this himself at 
the spectacles at Rome which are called the “urban games,” 
adding that then there seemed to follow a sort of mutual recogni- 
tion between the man and the lion so that you saw them as it 
were greeting each other with joy. And for this reason, as 
well as because of the great shouting of the people, the man was 
summoned before Cesar, and a diligent effort was made to dis- 
cover why such an exceptionally fierce lion had singled out this 
particular man and spared him. He told a story which was 
passing strange, saying: “When my master was appointed pro- 
consul of the province of Africa I went there with him ; but I 
could not endure his daily injustices and floggings and I fled. 
Because I thought I would be safer from my master in some 
hidden spot, I withdrew to the solitudes of the plains and 
sands. And if all else failed me I made up my mind to seek 
some way to die. Because of the swift blazing heat of the 
noon-day sun, I had halted for the time at a dark cave and 


tae TH 


SN ce ee aia an it ie ee fas 


Pah la RIL A EES, ae 


| 
® 
j 
% 
2 
i 
¥ 


oe wae ee 


Rorecraricus Vi or7 161 


went into it and hid myself. Not long afterwards there came 
to the same cave this lion, dragging a lame and bleeding foot, 
and uttering dreadful groans and whimpers, roaring the while 
from the pain and torture of the wound, so as to move the pity 
of any who chanced to see it. At first I was terrified at the 
sight of the approaching lion and completely paralyzed. But 
after the lion had entered what was apparently his regular 
living-place, and saw me retreating as far as I could and try- 
ing to conceal myself, he came up to me gently, and like a tame 
animal, and seemed to hold up and stretch out his paw to me 
for help. Then,” said the man, “I drew out an immense thorn 
which was stuck in the sole of his foot, and pressed out the pus 
which had formed in the bottom of the wound, and having by 
this time lost most of my fear, dried it thoroughly and carefully, 
and wiped away all the blood. Being thus relieved by my aid 
and medical attention, he lay down, placing his paw in my hand, 
and became quite quiet, and from that day for three whole years 
I and the lion lived in the same cave and shared the same food. 
For he would bring to the cave the better parts of the beasts 
which he killed and I, having no way of making a fire, ate them, 
cooked only in the heat of the noon-day sun. At last,” he said, 
“TI grew weary of this savage life, and one day when the lion 
had gone forth to hunt, I left the cave. I had travelled along 
the road for nearly three days when I was seen by soldiers and 
captured, and sent back from Africa to my master in Rome. 
He at once caused me to be condemned to death and thrown 
to the beasts. I now know that the lion was also captured 
during my absence and seeks today to repay me with gratitude 
for my kindness to him and for the fact that I healed his 
wound.” 

Andronicus was thereupon granted a reprieve from punish- 
ment, and, by vote of the whole people, the lion was given to 
him as a present. Therefore, like two friends, the man and 
the lion went about through the city, and everyone said, “This 


162 John. of Salisbury 


is the lion which gave hospitality to the man, this is the man 
who healed the lion.” 3 

Do you ask for tales which are better noone Daniel came 
forth from the den of the lions, and the three youths escaped un- 
harmed from the fiery furnace. And among all nations many 
have been unexpectedly delivered from impending ills by grace. 


Wherefore, to my mind, none of those who lay hands on them-— 
selves have sufficient ground for excuse, although the history of. 


the Church bestows high praise on some who did themselves to 
death because they preferred to risk their lot in this temporal 
life rather than lose their honor. But they were thus excused 
by the weakness of the flesh, and by their ignorance of the law 
and by the zeal of their charity, and perhaps also in some cases 
by the immediate commandment of God to the end that thus 
in their simplicity they might be saved from bearing the con- 
sequences which their straightforwardness had provoked. For 
what room is left for courage if the soul thus tires of its life, so 
that, suppressing patience and cutting short the span of merits 
in midcourse, it fails or neglects to endure its appointed lot? 
The scorn which wise men have of life is such that as the price 
of infamy even the other life seems too cheap, but their love of 
life is such that so long as it can be retained with innocence, they 
do not cast it away when they are suddenly cornered by some 
difficulty. Life is therefore to be preserved to the end that, 
and provided that, it be held in scorn; it is to be scorned to 
the end that, and provided that, it be used profitably for salva- 
tion. 

But who is there today who scorns life, since there is none, 
or only one here and there, who yearns not after money with 
his whole mind gaping wide? Why not? Since 
“Birth and beauty are gifts of Queen Money, 

And a well-moneyed man is decorated by the goddesses of Per- 
suasion and Love.” ? 


2Hor., Ep. 1. 6, ll. 37-8. 


yl, ee, 


Fe EC Cae eae a aN Rae 


- vaseline eae) Ss al 
TUNE Selb aT SAL BR 


STL 


mi ee Dt Me™ pus 


foreoraticus Yr 7 163 


A man who is rich, who prospers in his undertakings, is thought 
to be the wise and happy man. To this end one man takes a 
wife, another buys five yokes of oxen or a villa, each paying 
for his purchase with his own soul. Meanwhile those are re- 
puted blind and lame and crippled upon whom the world does 
not smile, but whom wisdom none the less, to the exclusion of 
the rich, admits to her marriage feast, where the elect are in 
toxicated with the richness of God’s household and made dru 
from the torrent of eternal pleasure. Meanwhile whoever , 
not riches is a fool, an ass, a log, a block, a dolt, or aug 
that is without sense or feeling. A man is a fool and 
if he is poor. A man cannot even afford to be lo 
who is crushed beneath ill fortune, for, as has beet 


“Sincerity was never so great. as to choose u 
friends,” 3 


and a man is supposed to suffer justly all thd 
upon him. And so the kingdom of money has 
ful that we do not even hope for a judge 4 
repulse the gifts which are offered to him.’ 
and refuse to chaffer, you will be though 
the case of the suitor who makes the offe 
will even be thought to have been corrupt 
of the other party by bribery or prejudicé 
to remain uncorrupted. Honor and tre 
departed from philosophers, while evet 
as if repose from labor and solace for, 
to be found; it is precisely as if ship\ 
that they could more easily win out of 
selves down with a heavy pack. W 
ever collected thorns to the end that 
he might rest the more softly? Ty 


8 Lucan, Pharsal. viii, 535. 


164 John of Salisbury 


Him who says “Riches are thorns,” * the wise men of our time 
would not be seeking riches with such eager zeal. The rich, 
as Publius Carpus says, are in truth more miserable than the 
poor, in so far as they are at a greater distance from wisdom. 
For the appetite for riches is the exclusion of wisdom and ban- 
ishes the virtues; poverty, fruitful of manhood, follows nature, 
he best guide of right living, and is the parent and guardian of 
he virtues, and alone brings in her train that security which is 
ee from aught that incites to wars and strife. The man is 
ed by no law-suits who is without the things that cause 
ns. The world trembles and the poor man alone fears 
d of Cesar. 

iches should be avoided or despised for no other 
at they hedge the paths of wisdom with thorns, it 
uty not to love them. However, to prevent a bad 
sophers from being conceived by those who are 
oiled by the meanness of poverty, philosophy 
s to flee from riches, but only forbids our lust- 
It demands a mind which is master of itself, 
turn of fortune suffices unto itself, provided 
cy be from God. Thus it will use gold like 
ld, indifferently. For as riches are per- 
uses to which they may be put, so they are 
man when they are turned to abuse. It 
parel and outfit will appear shameful in 
nd that a slender fortune will tarnish 
nd yet it is a far more excellent thing to 
an in the possession of physical things, 
er bring glory to a man who is dis- 
-own infamy. 


bocles the King dined from earthen 


Emenee raticus Vir7 165 


And that his sideboard was often loaded down with Samian 
clay ; 
To one who asked the reason he replied: ‘Although I am king 
Of Sicily, I was born a potter’s son. 
Treat fortune reverently, you who suddenly 
Are raised to riches from a poor station.’ ”’ > 


And so it is not the thing which is vicious, but rather the use that 
it is put to. 

And then the fruit of the philosophic spirit is a noble and gen- 
erous equanimity of mind; for while it is a mark of stupidity or 
dullness to bear all things indifferently, none the less the mind 
is sick which loses its independence. Although there are many 
paths whereby to pursue philosophy, the one that seems to me 
the noblest, and more praiseworthy than others, is that 


“Which feasts patiently on garden-herbs that it may learn 
To use things and which thus practices itself in the use of 
things,” ® 


to the end that it may thus train itself not to disdain garden- 
herbs and the other dainties of extreme poverty. Indeed, it is 
the finest fruit of philosophy to know how to bear both poverty. 
and abundance, so that a man will meet every fate with.a happy. 
and even mind, and, presenting a front of solid. virtue, wholly 
disarm fortune. Surely a man who has attained. to, this, will 
neither hope nor fear; and against such a,man.the attacks of, 
fortune are always crippled. What has philosophy given you? 
asks someone who is inquisitive about; philosophy, ; And. Aris-. 
tippus answers, “The power of speaking fearlessly to, all,men,”, 
For if a man were seeking honor or money,or, some other, thing, 
this would often prevent him from, giving..a, truthful) answer. 


5 Auson., Epigram. ii. 
@ Apparently a misquotation of Hor, ED. i, 17, son cf 
7 Apul., de Deo Socratis, Prol., 106) 210) 


166 John of Salisbury 


The surest road to salvation is that of the man who is not 
encumbered by riches and other things. For it is most difficult 
for them not to impede the advance of those who possess them. 
Who does not know that Ypodamia reached the goal first be- 
cause she could slacken the speed of her contending suitors by 
throwing before them a ball of gold? And so the virgin re- 
mained unvanquished until one came who was a despiser of 
money, and who by his disdain of gold outran the virgin, and 
thereby won the gold and thereafter, according to the tale, caused 
waxen axles to be made for the girl contender therefrom to 
signify that love of incorruption had consumed love of money. 
Does not the judgment of God itself commend this and make 
riches contemptible because the unjust abound in them while the 
good are often in poverty ? Nevertheless, it sometimes chances, 
I know not how, that for the undoing of just men, riches force 
themselves upon them; and the more diligently they are ex- 
cluded, the more eagerly they knock at the door of the man who 
despises them. ‘The more earnestly the blessed Eugenius re- 
fused gifts, the greater was the number thereof that poured in 
upon him from all sides. And indeed in almost all cases it hap- 
pens that things which are sought, flee from the seeker, while if 
one flies from a thing, it hastens forward to meet him. And 
this indeed is the shortest and most honorable road to riches. 
For when riches are barred out by prudence, it comes to pass 
poth that eternal life is won and at the same time wealth does 
not fail to accumulate. Even if this course is too hard for others 
to follow, it ought at least to be pursued by judges, whether 
ecclesiastical or temporal, who are bound to justice by their 
profession or by an oath. Samuel is the type and model for 
both, who so presided over the sacrifices that he did not spare 
the blood of the ungodly, and so dealt out justice of both kinds 
that he oppressed no man and accepted nought from the hand 
of any. This was attested both by his own conscience and by 
the people, yet his scrupulous conscience was not satisfied until 


Poitervaticus Vi r7 167 


the people confirmed their testimony by an oath. For he said, 
“God is my witness against you, and His anointed is my witness 
on this day that you have not found anything in my hand.” 
And they said, “He is witness.” * A judge to whom the people 
of a province give such testimony, may approach without 
anxiety the judgment seat of the all-powerful and all-knowing 
God. For the man prepares his case prudently who places in 
the balance his own conscience and human judgment, whereof 
the Judge on high is aware. But those who, unlike Samuel, 
do not lay open their judgments in this way, but run at once 
into excuses for their sins and, as if washing their hands, cry out 
with Pilate, “I am innocent of the blood of this just man,’’— 
these men because they have sinned against the law will be 
condemned by the law. And those likewise shall share in their 
condemnation who have power to restrain them but will not. 
Of these matters enough has been said for a wise man. And 
now let my pen pass on to those who are likened to the hands 
in the simile of Plutarch. 


A at, 1i,) 5. 


Here ends the Fifth Book 


Here Begins “) 


STHE SIXTH BOOK 


eM Woo 


ND HEREIN OF THE ARMED HAND OP 
THE COMMONWEALTH, AND ‘OF 
Peerre MUTUAL COHESION OF 


HEAD AND MEMBERS) | 


PROLOGUE 


There is a well-known passage from the ethical writer to the 
effect that: 


“Near the Emilian school you will find a smith who is unique 

In his skill to shape the finger-nails and imitate the waves of the 
hair in bronze; 

But the total effect of his work is unhappy because he does not 
know 

How to achieve a complete whole. If I desired to compose any- 
thing, 

I would no more wish to be this man than to have a deformed 
nose 

While everyone gazed in admiration at my black eyes and raven 
locks,” + 


I regard this simile as applicable to my own attempt to fol- 
low faithfully and closely the footsteps of Plutarch in his “In- 
struction of Trajan,” and I shall be an object of universal 
ridicule unless I carry through to completion the task which I 
have commenced. Therefore I shall continue in his steps and 
shall descend with him from the head of the commonwealth 
even to the feet, with the proviso, however, that if in this part 
of the work it shall seem to those who are permitted to be with- 
out knowledge of the law that I am cutting too deep, they shall 
charge it not to me but to Plutarch, or rather to themselves, be- 
cause they have been unwilling to learn the rule which they 
acknowledge, and in accordance with which they are obliged to 
live. As to what I shall say regarding my own countrymen, I 


1 Horace, Ars Poetica, 32-37. 
17I 


172 John of Salisbury 


have added it with only this intention, that they may return into 
the way of virtue even though unwillingly. For to inspire 
them to do the things which they ought to do, it should suffice 
for them that they have not merely the examples of the men 
of old times, but have also before their eyes the greatness of our 
own unconquered prince, whose titles of honor I now gather to- 
gether into one place, that even as the trumpet and clarions of 
others and every kind of musical instrument shall sound in uni- 
son his praise in one great burst of sound, so I, a man of humble 
birth and unlearned, may likewise spread abroad his fame among 
those of my own station with my strident reed. For who ex- 
pects from one who is half a rustic the music of a flute jointed 
with copper and rivalling the grandeur of the trumpet? Yet I 
shall not stand back, but shall boldly enter upon the solemn 
task; and what I lack in ability will be supplied by the abundance 
of my devotion. . 


“While the wild boar loves the mountain sides and the fish love 
the streams, 

While bees feed on thyme and the cicadas on dew, 

His honor and his name and his praises shall stand fast forever.” ? 


But if great men think that aught is said to their injury, let them 
be taught by their prince that bitter medicines are drunk not for 
the destruction but for the healing of the sick. With so much 
by way of preface, let me now proceed to what remains. 


2Verg., Ecl. v, 76-78. 


GG ben Pal Ee il 


THAT THE HAND OF THE COMMONWEALTH IS EITHER ARMED 
OR UNARMED; AND OF THE HAND WHICH IS UNARMED, 
AND ITS FUNCTION. 


The hand of the commonwealth is either armed or unarmed. 
The armed hand is that which performs the soldiering of camps 
and blood; the unarmed is that which administers justice and, 
keeping holiday from arms, is enlisted in the service of the law. 
For not those alone do military service for the commonwealth ! 
who, protected by helmets and cuirasses, ply their swords or 
what other weapons you please against the foe, but also the ad- 
vocates and pleaders of causes who, trusting to the bulwark of 
their glorious voice, lift up the fallen, refresh the weary; nor 
do they less serve mankind, than if they were preserving from 
the foe by the use of weapons the life, hope and posterity of 
those who are hard-pressed. Publicans, apparitors, and all of- 
ficers of the law courts may also be said to perform military 
service. For as some offices are of peace and others of war, so 
it is necessary that the ones should be performed by one set of 
officials, the others by another. 

The armed hand is employed only against the enemy, the un- 
armed is stretched out against the citizen also. It is needful 
that both should be subject to discipline, because both have a 
noteworthy tendency to viciousness. Besides, the way in which 
the hands are used bears witness to the character of the head, 
because, as Wisdom says, an unjust king has none but ungodly 

1 Justin., Cod., ii, 7, 14. 

173 


174 John of Salisbury 


ministers ; and as is the ruler of a state, so are those who inhabit 
therein.2 A magistrate, said Perides, blaming his colleague 
Soffocles, should not only have continent hands, but continent 
eyes as well. And the continence of rulers is praiseworthy when 
it is such that they not merely refrain their own hands from 
extortion and wrong, but restrain the hands of others as well. 

The hand of each militia, to wit both the armed and the un- - 
armed, is the hand of the prince himself; and unless he re- 
strains both, he is not continent. And in truth the unarmed 
hand is to be curbed the more tightly for the reason that while 
the soldiery of arms are enjoined to abstain from extortion and 
rapine, the unarmed hand is debarred even from taking gifts. 
But if a lawful penalty is demanded of anyone, if it is a ques- 
tion in other words of exacting or receiving that which is fixed 
or allowed by law, then there is no ground for punishment or 
blame. Whatever it is, it cannot properly be called an exaction ; 
nor does it fall into the class of gifts which officials are for- 
bidden to receive. 

Because the license of officials has a freer rein in that they 
can use the pretext of their office to despoil or harass private 
persons, all usurpations contrary to their official duty must be 
punished with a proportionately heavier penalty. Blessed 
Laurence, the bishop of Milan, says, “What is a publican? Is 
he not a person given over to rapine, whose law is violence? 
What is a publican? A plunderer without shame, a physician 
of destruction. Is not a publican more monstrous than 
a thief? For the thief steals timidly; but this man sins 
boldly.” * The thief fears the noose of the law; this man thinks 
that whatever he may do is the law. The law frightens the 
thief from unlawful acts; but this man debases the law into a 
handy instrument of injustice for his own evil purposes. 

Who is more unjust than one who with the words of justice 


2 Proverbs xxix, 12. 3 Migne, P. L., tom. Ixvi, 118, 


Pmacraticus Vel)r ies 


condemns justice and with the weapons of innocence despoils, 
wounds, and slays the innocent? By law he utterly annihilates 
law, and while he impels others to keep the law, he is himself 
an outlaw. “For as the magistrate, even when he decides un- 
justly, speaks the law, having regard not to what he does but 
to what he ought to do; so the publican, even when he offends 
against the law, seems to fulfil it, having regard to his official 
duty and not to his wicked intent.” * But what is the official 
duty of a publican? We learn from the narrative of Luke that 
the publicans came to John to be baptized, and asked him, 
“Master, what shall we do?’ And, answering, he said to them, 
“Exact no more than that which is appointed for you.”* This, 
then, is the duty of a publican, to exact and receive no more 
than is appointed. Every excess proceeds from the evil of him 
who exacts and receives, and not of him who gives. This prin- 
ciple is extended to the officials of all magistracies, namely, that 
their exactions shall not exceed this limit. | 

Apparitors also may properly exact that which is due to them 
by way of fees,® and all grades of military commanders may 
justly accept their appointed stipend. But they may not resort 
to oppression or abuse to extort gifts in addition. “Fire,” says 
blessed Job, “shall devour the tents of those who love to accept 
gifts. Their coming together hath conceived pain and brought 
forth iniquity, and the womb thereof prepareth deceits.”* The 
whole tribe of publicans from the greatest down to the least has 
now no time for justice but only for extortion, and rages so 
furiously against the people that what one leaves, the rest do 
not long delay to carry off; as if they were appointed, according 
to the complaint of the prophet, to the end that what was left 
by the locust might be eaten up by the brucus.* And that 
their opportunity of doing harm may be enlarged, one man will 

ea. i, I, TI. SURE a, Fe; 413, 


6 Dig. iv, 6, § 24; Justin., Cod. i, 3, 32, § 5; ili, 2, 5. 
7 See Job. xv, 34, 35. 8 Joel i, 4. 


170 John of Salisbury 


pile up for himself a plurality of offices, so that the profit which 
he does not draw from one, he will reap from another. The 
phisiologers tell that from the locust is produced the brucus, 
or larva of the locust, which is called so until it has wings. 
Then, while its wings are growing, and when it first begins to 
fly, it is called athelebus. When it has fully gained the power 
to fly, it becomes a locust once more; and much more grievous . 
is the brucus than the locust and the athelebus, because being 
without wings it cannot move quickly from place to place, and 
so, wherever it comes, it devours the fruits of the earth utterly. 
The locust and athelebus are harmful when they come, and per- 
haps in many different places, but less so, however, than the 
brucus, which after it has once set itself down, never moves 
away from that place until it has wholly eaten up the labors of 
men. And among officials you will meet with this same brucus, 
athelebus, and locust, who harms those near-by and those afar 
off, and when he has once settled himself down upon any per- 
son, devours his fortune and does not depart until he carries 
away all his victim’s substance. Who can count how many 
wards such an official has most dutifully defrauded, how many 
farms his wrong-doing has put up for sale, and how many of 
our people the license of such men has stripped of their posses- 
sions and in the name of religion or on some other pretext has 
sent them overséas, not so much as pilgrims to Rome or some 
other shrine, as in reality exiles? Verily, these things are done 
openly, and neither governors nor proconsuls check them, be-_ 
cause, as the saying is, the raven rejoices in the works of the 
wolf, and the unjust judge applauds the minister of injustice. 
From experience this has become a familiar occurrence in 
lands whose princes are infidels and the associates of thieves, and 
when they see the latter engaged in wrong-doing, do but run to 
their aid, and add their own share of iniquity to the end that they 
may get for themselves some portion of the spoil. If you are 
an official and take pity on some poor man, if you weep 


Poevreraticus VI r Le 


over some failure of justice, if you resolve to give aid, 
if you even dare to speak mildly against these men, and do 
not say to all that they say or do, ‘“Well-done! Well- 
done!” then these same officials of Herod will accuse you of 
lése majesté and you will have to give an account of yourself 
before the governor. And if you do not bend to him in all 
things, you will be contradicting Cesar, and if you do not agree 
to whatsoever he says, that so indeed it is and so indeed it goes, 
then you will be acting against the person of the king and against 
the crown. Then there will be a rising up and crying out against 
you, and to the very clouds will go up the clamor of the officials, 
repeating with a great voice: ‘We have found this man per- 
verting the people, and prohibiting the payment of tribute to 
Cesar, and denying that Cesar is king and that all things are 
lawful for his ministers; we have found this man bringing to 
nought the laws of our fathers, seeking to introduce new ones, 
and despising most ancient custom; of this we are witnesses.” 
If then you wish to clear your innocence or to add aught for 
the sake of justice, if you say that Christ is king and that it is 
more important to obey Him than to obey men, if you bring 
forward some privilege of the Church (for this is in their eyes 
the most hateful plea of all), straightway lifting up their voices 
they will chant, “What further witnesses do you want? Lo, 
you yourselves hear his blasphemy ; whoever asserts such things, 
contradicts Christ.” But if the judge, recognizing innocence 
before him and respecting justice, hesitates, then from all sides 
they cry out: “If you set free this man, you are not a friend 
of Cesar. That the punishment of one may be the deliverance 
of many, take this man and destroy him, to the end that Bar- 
rabas may live and prosper.” For they are all like one body, 
whose father, as their manifest works declare, is the devil him- 
self, and of which body they are the limbs. Well does blessed 
Job say of them that their “body is like a shield fused together 
and compacted of scales adhering closely; one is joined to an- 


178 John of Salisbury 


other so that there is not even a breathing space between them ; 
one coheres to another and they lock, so that they cannot be 
sundered.”® For they stand by one another, because they have 
banded together against God and His Christ. So great is their 
authority that whatever they say has the same force as if it were 
found in the statute-book. Their testimony is conclusive against 
the truth. There is none except the prince who can lawfully 
go against their decisions. If the prince curbs them not, then 
although all men should say that there is peace, there is in truth 
no peace, or only that peace in which is the bitterest bitterness. 
For though in other cases it is lawful to repel force with force 
provided that one keeps within the bounds of permissible self- 
defence, yet against these men, although they are extortioners, 
despoilers and torturers, it is not permissible even to breathe a 
word; for they are the visible ministers of the law. A man is 
excused by the law for that which he does for the protection of 
his own body; but if he resists these traitors when they seek to 
wrong him, he will be judged worthy of any punishment, no 
matter how ‘severe. If one of them rumples or soils or tears 
your hair, plucks out your beard, pulls your ears as though they 
needed lengthening, if he gives you a cuff or shamefully strikes 
you with his fist, if he gouges out one eye, be careful to submit 
with all patience unless you wish to lose the other also; for 
whatever they presume to do, they boast that it is done with 
the right hand of Cesar. If you brandish a weapon in your 
hand, if you refuse of your own accord to bow your neck to 
the blow, the man will bare his belly, point to his throat, hold 
out his neck and defy you to lay open with your sword, if you 
dare, the bowels of Cesar, or to lay your hand in any manner 
upon the body of Cesar; for he boasts that he bears the person 
of Cesar. But if this is the right hand of Cesar, what can 
his left hand be? Truly the behavior of these ministers does 
not execute justice but turns it to ridicule, does not fulfil the 


® Job. xli, 6-8. 


feeuwoerai¢ecus VI fr 179 


law but brings it to nought, although some furiously employ 
their prerogative of words to defend by falsehood their offence 
against the intention of the law; for “they are wise men to do 
evil.” *° But although they are a most hurtful pest to the pro- 
vincials, to no one can they really be more hurtful than to the 
prince himself; for what is to the advantage of the provincials 
is to the advantage of the prince. All things belonging to the 
provincials are by law subjected and made available to the 
necessity and advantage of the prince. The whole province is 
accordingly like the prince’s strong-box, and whosoever drains 
it, offends most grievously against the prince by diminishing 
his resources. For the provincials are like tenants by superficies, 
and when the advantage of the ruling power so requires, they 
are not so much owners of their possessions as mere custodians. 
But if there is no such pressure of necessity, then the goods of 
the provincials are their own and not even the prince himself 
may lawfully abuse them. For if it is to the advantage of the 
commonwealth that no one should use his own property wrong- 
fully, obviously it is not lawful to abuse that which belongs to 
another. Besides, after a province has been exhausted by these 
ministers of iniquity and wickedness and satellites of Satan, 
these men of Herod, what resources will the prince have avail- 
able for his use when need arises? ‘Therefore if he is wise, he 
will curb their jaws with bit and bridle, so that they cannot, 
after the way of wolves driven on by unclean gluttony, lay 
waste and mangle the province, and, to the prince’s injury, 
exhaust the whole strength of the commonwealth. Otherwise 
he himself will fall into poverty and become hateful to all 
the provincials, and will besides have to render an account 
to his own judge, who will weigh with a strict balance the 
works of his hands and the wrongs of the provincials, whom 
under color of protection he has unjustly and as it were by 
fraud despoiled and wounded with his unarmed hand. 


10 Jer, iv, 22. 


CHAP] Eek aa 


THAT MILITARY SERVICE REQUIRES SELECTION, SCIENCE AND 
TRAINING. 


There remains the armed hand, which, as has been Said, ‘pers 
forms the service of camps and blood. The control exercised 
over it is the principal test of the wisdom and justice of the 
prince. For, as Vegetius Renatus * says, there is no one who 
should have more knowledge or better knowledge than a prince, 
whose learning ought to be of advantage to all his subjects. For 
since works of both peace and war require to be regulated, he 
ought to be learned both in the law .and in military science. 
Something has already been said above concerning the pursuits 
of peace, and we now proceed to discuss the armed hand, which 
is never fit and vigorous without selection, science, and train- 
ing. For if any of these is lacking the hand becomes useless 
and unprofitable; of the three, science and training are the 
more valuable. For knowledge of military science promotes 
boldness of strategy. No one fears to do what he feels con- 
fident that he has learned to do well. A mere handful of men 
practiced in the art of war is more likely to be victorious than a 
rough, untrained multitude, which is always exposed to the 
danger of slaughter. What made the Romans victorious over 
all! nations? Principally science, training, and the loyal devo- 


1 The extensive use which John makes of this author in the following 
chapters is interesting in view of the fact that Vegetius afterwards came 
to be the favorite military authority of the later Middle Ages. See H. 
N. MacCracken, in “Kittredge Anniversary Papers,’ Boston, 1913, pp. 
380 ff. 

180 


moseoralicus VI 2 ISI 


tion which chosen men paid to the commonwealth in pursuance 
of their oath. For what would the smaller number of the 
‘Romans have availed against all the hosts of the Gauls? What 
could their shortness of stature have dared to attempt against 
the tallness of the Germans? It is certain that the Spaniards 
excelled the Romans not only in numbers but in bodily strength. 
They were always unequal to the Africans in cunning and in 
riches. Wherefore, to make up for all these shortcomings, it 
was to their advantage to select the recruit who was quick of 
body and alert of mind; and, as has been said, teach him the 
laws of arms; enforce the teaching by daily training; foresee by 
reflection on the practice ground as much as possible of what 
would happen in the shock of battle; and visit slugeards with 
severe punishment. To this the above-named author bears wit- 
ness, adding in almost these words that it is useless to maintain 
a well-fed soldier who is habituated to the pleasures of good 
living, and saying that he prefers as far more serviceable plain 
country-folk who have been brought up under the open sky 
and in habits of work, trained to endure the sun’s heat, caring 
nothing for the shade, ignorant of the pleasures of the bath 
and other luxuries, simple-minded, content with little food, their 
limbs hardened to endure all manner of toil, and with whom it 
was a habit from their country life to wield a sword, dig a 
‘ditch and carry a load. Do you suppose that singers, gamesters, 
and fowlers will be found fit for these tasks when need arises? 
He utterly rejects men of such occupations for military service, 
as well as fishermen, makers of sweets, cloth-makers and all 
whose trade has an obvious affinity to women’s work ; thinking 
that for military service there should rather be chosen smiths, 
ironworkers, wood-choppers and hunters of stags and wild- 
boars. For Jeroboal, to disregard the figurative meaning of 
the story, was forbidden by the command of God to put his 
trust in a timid and untrained multitude, and was bidden to 
lead against the Madianites only such as were proved fit by their 


182 John of Salisbury 


strong-heartedness and bodily training. Therefore when Ged- 
eon proclaimed within the hearing of all, “Let the man who is 
fearful and timorous withdraw,” twenty-two thousand of ihe 
people withdrew and only ten thousand remained. But of these 
ten thousand the judgment of God chose out as the more fit for 
war only those who in their thirst lapped up the water like dogs 
while they were running, casting it to their mouth with the 
hand; while those were left behind who bent their knees to 
drink. Thus in the hands of three hundred men was placed 
the deliverance of the people, and they brought it to pass, slew 
the enemy, captured their kings, and killed the leaders of what 
may be called not so much their militia as their malice; and he 
smote Zebee and Salmana at the mouth of the sword, and took 
away the ornaments and bosses wherewith they were wont to 
adorn the necks of the king’s camels, and the ornaments and 
jewels and purple vestments which the kings of Madian had 
been wont to wear, and out of so much booty kept for himself 
only the golden earrings of the Ismaelites, sharing the rest 
among the people. Thus he vanquished unnumbered foes by 
a picked handful of brave men who I can hardly think had 
learned amid the pleasures of cities or at kingly banquets or 
daily feasts to lap up water, which was the sign whereby the 
Lord saw fit to choose them in preference to others. If never- 
theless there are times when need requires that city-folk and 
others of delicate habits shall be forced into arms, then from 
the first moment when they enlist in the service they should learn 
to work, to march, to carry burdens, and to endure sun and 
dust, to use food in small quantities and of rustic plainness, and 
to sleep sometimes beneath the open sky, at others under tents. 
Then only let them be taught the use of arms; and if the cam- 
paign proves to be a long one, they should be kept for the 
most part at forced labor and far from the allurements of 


2 Judges vii, 2 ff. 


meereroticus VI 2 183 


cities, to the end that they may in this way acquire ruggedness 
of body and spirit. It is of course not to be denied that from 
the foundation of Rome it was from a city that the Romans 
always went forth to their wars; but then it was a city where 
there was no indulgence in luxuries, but the young men washed 
off by a swim in the Tiber the sweat which they had accumulated 
from running and from exercise on the practice-ground. The 
soldier and the husbandman were one and the same man; he 
only changed the character of his implements, which was true 
- to the point even that, as is well known, the dictatorship was of- 
fered to Quintius Cincinnatus while he was plowing: and 


“His flurried wife clothed him with the dictator’s robes while the 
cattle looked on, 
And a lictor drove home his plow.” ® 


From the fields and farms, then, the strength of the army is to 
be chiefly recruited. For Vegetius says, “For some reason a 
man fears death in inverse proportion to the dainties which he 
has known in life.” 


PePers., Sdt:i, 74, 75. 


CHAPTER AV 


a 


OF BRAGGART SOLDIERS WHO ARE OF NO USE FOR SERVICE. 


Braggart soldiers, and those who in real life represent the 
comic Traso' in habits and character if not in profession and 
name, will no doubt blush at this sort of soldiering as savoring in 
their eyes not so much of military discipline as of the shameful 
restraints of slavery. For in their esteem military glory con- 
sists in cutting a fine figure with clothes of brighter hue than 
others, and in so squeezing and twisting their linen or silken 
garments as to make them cleave as close to the body as a second 
skin, whiteleaded and plastered over with gaudy colors; to 
them it consists in sitting a saddle-horse well, in being curled 
and apparelled to rival Actean Apollo, and in being more pro- 
ficient in the arts of pleasure than notable for valor. If you 
were to take such men to form your line of battle, you would 
be more certain to capture the stronghold of Thais than that of 
Hannibal. The more boastful they are in the hall, the more 
certain it is that when it comes to the issue of an actual battle, 
they will send ahead their servants into the fight in droves 
under the lead of Sanga,? while they themselves, to save their 
skins, trail behind the rear guard in company with the slingers 
and others whose aim is rather to hurl missiles against the foe 
from a distance than to meet them in hand-to-hand conflict. 
But afterwards when they return home without a wound or 
a scratch (as generally happens), 


1A character in the Eunuchus of Terence. 2 Ter., Eun. iv, 7, 6. 
184 


morcrattcus VI 3 185 


“They sing of battles hard fought and weary war; 
There contends Eacides, and yonder Achilles; 
And they paint the whole Trojan war in flowing wine”: 3 


and each boasts that about his temples he narrowly missed a 
thousand deaths. Indeed never thereafter will you be able 
to endure the dazzle of their glory. A tale of this kind will 
be handed down to the hundredth year; their sons who will be 
born and grow up, will tell it over to their sons. If they 
break any lances, which their artful laziness has contrived to 
have made as fragile as hemp, if the gold leaf or red-lead or 
other coloring matter has been knocked off their shields by 
some chance blow or other accident, their garrulous tongue, if 
they find any to listen, will make the incident memorable from 
century to century. Yet such men claim for themselves the 
first seats at table, and (despite what our friend Renatus has 
handed down concerning military science) they banquet splen- 
didly every day if their luck permits, and avoid, worse than they 
would a snake or a dog, all work and exercise which is not 
forced on them by unescapable necessity; and whenever any 
difficult task looms up, they pass it on to their subordinates. 
Meanwhile they so bedeck their shields with gold, so adorn 
all their camp equipment, that you might mistake any one of 
them not so much for a votary, but rather for the very com- 
manding officer, of Mars himself; and if one of them should 
chance to have his helmet or shield captured, they would be 
trophies of which Mars might well be proud. 


3 See Ovid, Her. i, 31 ff; Metam. xii, 161. 


CHAPTER ais 


WHAT KIND OF KNOWLEDGE AND TRAINING SOLDIERS SHOULD 
HAVE, AND THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BE PERMITTED TO BE 
IDLE; AND CONCERNING AUGUSTUS, WHO CAUSED His 
DAUGHTERS TO BE TAUGHT WOOL-M«.KING. 


There is a pithy saying of Scipio Africanus reported in the 
book of Strategems of Julius Frontinus. When he once saw 
the shield of a certain man exquisitely decorated, he said that 
he did not wonder that the man had honored it with so much 
ornament since he found in it so much more protection than 
in his sword. You will never be able to endure the arrogance 
of men of this breed, unless your patience is exceptional. No 
modesty, however great, will restrain you from laughing at 
their absurdities. Yet who was more fortunate or powerful 
than Octavian Augustus? Although he begot no sons, he 
adopted several; and though it might have seemed that their 
illustrious blood would suffice for their glory, and that their 
hereditary wealth would provide them rather with superfluity 
and excess than with a livelihood, yet they were educated with 
the same care as if there were no way for them to retain what 
they had, or acquire more, save by their own worth. There- 
fore he caused them to be trained in the military step and in 
running and jumping, and had them taught swimming and 
how to strike with the edge and with the point, and how to 
hurl missiles and stones with the hand or sling, and how every 
kind of warfare ought to be opposed or carried forward. For 
that most prudent and diligent emperor knew that 

186 


Policraticus VI 4 187 


“The vase which has once been steeped will long keep the fra- 
grance fresh,” ? 


and that we become imbued or steeped in a thing not only more 
quickly, but also more completely if we learn it in childhood. 
Besides, military agility and leaping and running are things to 
be acquired and perfected before sluggishness grows upon the 
body with increasing age. For swiftness, which is acquired 
and confirmed by exercise, goes to the making of an able war- 
rior. Nor is it of much consequence whether a man is tall 
or of shorter stature if the other marks of fitness are present ; 
for it is better for soldiers to be strong and brave than to be 
big. Pirrus is said to have told his recruiting officer: “Your 
part is to pick them big, but I shall have to make them brave.” ” 

When Greece was celebrating the solemn games at the mound 
of Archemorus, it is well-known how Tideus defeated Capaneus 
because 


“Greater merit reigned in the smaller body.” 3 


Sallust records the care which Pompey the Great bestowed upon 
training himself, and how he contended with the agile in jump- 
ing, with the swift in running and with the strong in lifting the 
bar.** Nor could he otherwise have proved a match for Ser- 
torius had he not fitted himself and his soldiers for battle by 
‘constant training. The art of retreat, of attack, of surprise, 
is no mean one, for it provides the ability which enables one’s 
soldiers to break upon the enemy and inflict damage without 
at the same time exposing themselves at some point to a counter- 
stroke. The practice of swimming is a great aid, for one can 

1 Hor., Ep. I. ii, 69-70. 

2Frontinus, Strateg. iv, 1, § 3. 3 Stat., Thebaid, i, 417. 

8a] suggest this rendering of an obscure expression in addition to those 
advanced by Clarke (“Military Institutions of Vegetius,” tr. John Clarke, 


London. 1767, p. 19) and by Ulysse Robert (in his edition of Jean de 
Meun, “L’Art de Chevalerie,” Paris, Firmin Didot, 1897, p. 17). 


188 John of Salisbury 


never foretell what necessity will require it in either a land 
or naval battle, and of course no one has a ready escape from 
perils by means of an art which he has not learned. Of great 
importance also is the use of missiles, by which the enemy 
can be damaged or thrown into panic from a distance, while 
at the same time the exercise increases the strength of the mus- 
cles and cultivates the art and habit of hurling. The faithful 
and continuous practice of all these exercises results in making 
the men who were diligently trained therein in time of peace, 
self-reliant, bold and useful amid the confusion of war. 

The above-mentioned Augustus is also said to have caused 
his daughters to be instructed in the art of weaving wool, so 
that if, contrary to expectation, fortune should ever hurl them 
down into dire poverty, they might sustain life by abilities de- 
rived from that art. They had not only the art but also the 
practice and habit of spinning, weaving, plying the needle, and 
shaping, making and putting together garments. Surely a 
man who allowed no idleness even to virgins never permitted 
his soldiers to be idle, whose very calling is founded upon toil. 
Nor do I think that he could have taken pride in the effeminate 
aspect of his soldiers, whose own daughter did not dare to 
approach him except with a graver countenance and more decent 
garb than was her wont. 

Lucan in a brief commendatory passage praises Cato and the | 
soldiery of Rome, adding among other things that for Cato it 
was to be dressed expensively “when he covered his limbs with 
a shaggy toga beyond the usual fashion of a Roman OMmrite 
Certainly he would not have said this had not an even rougher 
toga been the ordinary garb of a Quirite. But today those who 
are garbed in soft clothing are in the houses of kings, nay 
even in the camp, and go forth to battle as though whitened 
for a wedding feast. They look upon themselves as protected 


4Lucan., Phars. ii, 386. 


miovecraticus VI 4 189 


by all the great privileges of ancient soldiery which they most 
imitate by being ignorant of the laws. And this might indeed 
be tolerable did they not despise human and divine laws alike, 
so that, willingly or unwillingly, you cannot help having the 
passage of the satirist occur frequently to your mind: 


“T am the son of Dinomache !—puff yourself out; I have a hand- 
some complexion !—granted ; 
Still you must grant also that ragged Baucis is no worse off for 
wisdom 
When she sings the praises of her herbs to some slovenly serving 
knave.” 1 


1Pers., Sat. iv, 20-22. 


CHA Pi iy aaa 


THAT THERE ARE TWO CHIEF THINGS WHICH MAKE A SOLDIER, ~ 
TO WIT SELECTION AND THE SOLDIER’S OATH. 


Still, that you may not think me hostile to military men and 
the military life, or that I am imputing the vices of individuals 
to the profession as a whole, I will undertake its defence against 
whoever attacks it and will fully justify it on the authority 
of God. For the profession is as praiseworthy as it is neces- 
sary and no one can abuse it while preserving his reverence for 
God who instituted it. Go through the narrative of the Old 
Testament and you will find that it is as I say. For it iS 
nothing to the point if the men I have been speaking of walk 
crookedly, for such men are not under the military law because, 
if we speak accurately, none of them is a true soldier. Read 
both the ecclesiastical and secular books which treat of military 
matters; and you will find it clear that there are two things 
which make a soldier, to wit selection and the soldier’s oath. 
Both are common to those who are spiritual soldiers and to 
those who are secular soldiers. The former are called by the 
tongue of the pontiff to the service of the altar and the care of 
the Church. The latter are chosen for the defence of the com- 
monwealth by the tongue of the leader. The kind of men who 
should be chosen for particular offices and stations, and the 
method of choice for both sorts of office, are discussed in the 
writings of the old authors. But as we are now dealing with 
the secular soldiery, let us hear Vegetius Renatus on the sub- 
ject of the selection of soldiers. He says: The safety of the 
whole commonwealth turns upon the choice of the best recruits 

gee: 


Pere ratscus VI. 5 1QI 


in point not only of body but also of mind; the strength of the 
realm and the basis of Rome’s reputation rest on the original 
examination of the levy. Let not this be thought a trivial 
duty, nor one which may be committed to any one, since we 
know that among the ancients it was singled out for special 
praise among so many different kinds of merit. For the young 
men who are to be entrusted with the defence of provinces 
ought to excel both in character and physical strength. Both 
good breeding and modesty are needed to fit a man to be a good 
soldier as they prevent his running away, and thus often cause 
him to be victorious. Of what advantage is it to train a cow- 
ard, though he spends several terms of enlistment in camp? 
An army will never be of real use in war whose recruitment 
was marred by a defective examination and selection of men. 
And as we have learned from experience and proof, the dis- 
asters which we suffer from the enemy almost always occur in 
the instances where, and are due to the fact that, a long peace 
has led to a careless choice of soldiers, the civil offices are fought 
for by worthless and inefficient men, and in consequence, 
through the favor or fraud of the examining officers, recruits 
sent ir: by the land-owners to fill the quotas imposed upon them 
are accepted for service though they are of a quality that any 
master would scorn to have as slaves. Therefore it is only by 
able and responsible men and with the utmost care that the 
choice of proper novices should be made. After such a care- 
ful selection has been made and approved in a judicial manner, 
those should be registered and enlisted in the service who are 
found to be fit for it. For swiftness and strength of body are 
both required, and there should also be an examination of 
whether a man is capable of learning the discipline of arms 
and whether he has the self-reliance of a soldier. I*or many 
who are not unlikely in appearance will yet by tests be found 
to be unfit. Therefore the unfit must be rejected and their 
places filled with the ablest men that can be found. For in 


192 John of Salisbury 


every conflict it is not numbers that count, so much as valor. 
To testing and forming and enhancing the latter quality, the 
labor and judgment of the leader should be directed. For after 
the recruits are selected and enrolled, then by daily exercises 
they should be taught the science of arms so as to become com- 
plete and able soldiers in light armor and heavy, on land and 
sea, and both as infantry and cavalry. 


CAL TER i Vii 


OF THE ILLS WHICH COME UPON OUR COUNTRYMEN FROM 
NEGLIGENT CHOICE OF SOLDIERS, AND HOW HAROLD SUB- 
DUED THE WELSH. 


The practice of this discipline has fallen into disuse either 
from the enjoyment of long peace or in consequence of the 
assaults of effeminacy and luxury which break the spirits of 
men, or else by reason of the cowardice of our youth and the 
inertia of the leaders of the present age. For what man can 
you find who can ably teach what he himself has not learned? 


“Now we suffer from the ills of prolonged peace; fiercer than arms 
Luxury has made its bed with us and is avenging the conquered 
world,” 1 


Turn over the ancient and modern histories and you will find 
it clear that the clash of peoples, collision in arms, human 
slaughter, and terrible disasters always accompany or follow in 
the train of luxury. Not to seek far afield for examples, the 
Britons of Snowdon are now irrupting and extending their 
frontiers, and, coming forth from their caverns and hiding- 


1Juy., Sat. vi, 292-3. It is interesting to speculate whether John was 
here voicing a general feeling of military unpreparedness, and, if so, 
whether this was a motive for the Assize of Arms published by Henry 
II. in 1180. See Ramsay, “The Angevin Empire,” p. 43; Norgate, 
“England under the Angevin Kings,” ii, 177, 178. It is also interesting 
to speculate whether there was any connection between such a feeling 
and the sudden rage for tournaments which broke out in France in 
Heuary’s time and resulted in their importation into England under 
Richard I. See Haskins, “The Normans in European History,” pp. 
155-157; Norgate, “England under the Angevin Kings,” ii, 342; Jusser- 
and, “Les Sports et Jeux d’Exercise dans Vancienne France,” pp. 50, 58. 

193 


194 John of Salisbury 


places in the woods, are occupying the open country, and attack- 
ing or taking by storm, and destroying or keeping for them- 
selves, the strong places of our nobles and leaders in the very 
sight of the latter. This is because our youth 


“Who delight in life under a roof or in the shade,” ? 


as if they were born but to consume the fruits of the earth, 
sleeping until daylight, postponing honorable duties to fornica- 
tion, pursuing sensual pleasure the live-long day, are better 
acquainted with the cithern, the lyre, the tambourine and the note 
of the organ at the banquet, than with the sound of the clarion 
or trumpet in the camp. In all of which, it is plain that there 
has been a failure to make a proper selection, or any selection 
at all, of a leader, and that there has been a disappearance, or 
at least a slackening, of discipline. For when the need arises 
to join battle, they have too little courage when equipped with 
light armor, and when equipped with heavy armor too little 
agility. They find the latter such a burden that they cannot 
pursue the enemy, and the former so saps their courage that 
they will not stand to meet his attack because they fear that 
they will be exposed to wounds. 

And so our borders are ravaged while our youth are being 
trained; and while our soldiery is being armed, the enemy 
escapes, and, as the saying goes, the wolf gains a safe hiding- 
place while the dog does not even bark. There is none to seize 
the enemy as he departs, or to pursue him, because a man 
who is encumbered is neither a match for, nor successful against, 
a foe who is free and agile. For this enemy does not seek the 
protection of walls and moats, but a place which is as accessible 
to our soldiers as it is to him, although of course not equally 
well-known. And he abides there in perfect safety because, and 
only because, our soldiery trust not to their own valor but to 
the protection of armor. 


-2Juv., Sat. vii, 100, 


Porcraticus VI 6 195 


The recent history of the English tells how, when the Britons 
had made an irruption and were ravaging England, Duke Har- 
old was sent by the most pious King Edward to subdue them. 
He was an able warrior with an illustrious record of praise- 
worthy achievements, and one who might have transmitted his 
own glory and that of his family to future generations had he 
not imitated the wickedness of his father and tarnished his 
titles of merit by disloyally assuming the crown. When, there- 
fore, he discovered the nimbleness of the nation he had to deal 
with, he selected light-armed soldiers so that he might meet 
them on equal terms. He decided, in other words, to, cam- 
paign with a light armament shod with boots, their chests 
protected with straps of very tough hide, carrying small round 
shields to ward off missiles, and using as offensive weapons 
javelins and a pointed sword. Thus he was able to cling to their 
heels as they fled and pressed them so hard that “foot repulsed 
foot and spear repulsed spear,’ and the boss of one shield 
that of another. And so he reached Snowdon, the Hill of 
Snows itself, and wasted the whole country, and prolonging 
the campaign to two years, captured their chiefs and presented 
their heads to the king who had sent him; and slaying every 
male who could be found, even down to the pitiful little boys, 
he thus pacified the province at the mouth of the sword. He 
established a law that any Briton who was found with a weapon 
beyond a certain limit which he set for them, to wit the Foss of 
Offa, was to have his right hand cut off by the officials of the 
king. And thus by the valor of this leader the power of the 
Britons was so broken that almost the entire race seemed to 
disappear and by the indulgence of the aforesaid king, their 
women were married to Englishmen. 

Do you then see what advantages follow from the proper 
selection of a leader and from the training of the youth in arms? 


3 Cf. Sil. Ital., iv, 352-3. 


CHAPTER Aa 


WHAT IS THE FORMULA OF THE SOLDIER'S OATH AND THAT, 
WITHOUT IT, A MAN MAY NOT BE A SOLDIER. 


By ancient law no one was presented with the soldier’s belt 
without the binding sacrament of an oath. As may be read in 
Julius Frontinus, it was during the consulship of Lucius Flacus 
and Gaius Varro that an oath was first required to make a man 
a soldier; before that time only an oath of allegiance was ad- 
ministered by the tribunes, but the soldiers swore to one another 
that they would not run away for fright, nor leave the line of 
battle except for the purpose of getting a weapon or striking 
an enemy or to save a comrade. And this was called the military 
oath; and the practice was confirmed by the authority of the 
most Christian emperors and by usage. 

On the testimony of Vegetius the formula of this oath is as 
follows: The soldiers swear by God and His Christ and by 
the Holy Ghost and by the prince's majesty, which according 
to God’s commandment is to be loved and worshipped by the 
human race. For when anyone receives lawful princely power, 
faithful devotion is to be accorded to him and ever watchful 
service as to God present and manifest in the flesh. Both the 
private citizen and the soldier serve God when they loyally love 
him who reigns by the authority of God. They swear, I say, 
that they will do the best of their ability all things which the 
prince shall enjoin upon them ; that they will never desert from 
military service nor refuse to die for the commonwealth, of 
which they are the enlisted soldiers. After they have taken 
this oath, they are presented with the soldier's belt and become 


196 


Poererativeus VI .7 197 


entitled to the soldier’s privileges. And so the rule obtains that 
_a soldier is made such by selection and by oath in the sense 
that without selection no one is enlisted or can take the oath, 
and without the oath no one is entitled to the name or official 
standing of a soldier. 

Marcus Tully in his book of Offices’ tells that when Pom- 
pilius was once the general in command of a province, the son 
of Cato was serving in his army as a recruit. Pompilius de- 
ciding to disband one legion, he discharged among the rest the 
son of Cato who chanced to be serving in that legion. As the 
latter, however, remained in the army because of his love of 
fighting, Cato wrote to Pompilius that, if he permitted him to 
remain in the army, he should cause him to take a second oath 
because, the effect of his former oath having come to an end, 
he could not lawfully fight against the enemy. There is also 
a letter of Marcus Cato the elder to his son Marcus in which 
he writes that he has heard that he has been discharged by the 
consul while he was a soldier in Macedonia in the war against 
Perseus. He accordingly warns him to be careful not to go 
into battle; for he says that it is not lawful for a man who is 
not a soldier to fight the enemy. Behold, then, how a man of 
the greatest wisdom did not consider a man to be a soldier 
unless he was consecrated to military service by an oath. 


*Cic,, De Of. i, 11; § 36. 


CHAPTER 


THAT THE SOLDIERY OF ARMS IS NECESSARILY BOUND TO RE- 
LIGION LIKE THAT WHICH IS CONSECRATED TO MEMBER- 
SHIP IN THE CLERGY AND THE SERVICE OF GOD; AND TEAt 
THE NAME OF SOLDIER IS ONE OF HONOR AND TOIL, 


Turn over in your mind the words of the oath itself, and 
you will find that the soldiery of arms not less than the spiritual 
soldiery is bound by the requirements of its official duties to 
the sacred service and worship of God; for they owe obedience 
to the prince and ever-watchful service to the commonwealth, 
loyally and according to God. Wherefore, as I have said above, 
those who are neither selected nor sworn, although they may 
be reckoned as soldiers in name, are in reality no more sol- 
diers than men are priests and clerics whom the Church has 
never called into orders. For the name of soldier 1s one of 
honor, as it is one of toil, And no man can take honor upon 
himself, but one who is called of God eee in the honor which 
is conferred upon him. 

Moyses and the leaders of the faithful people, whenever it 
became needful to fight the enemy, selected men who were 
brave and well-trained to war. For these qualities are condi- 
tions prerequisite to selection. But the man who without being 
selected yet forces his way into the service, provokes against 
himself the sword which he usurps by his own rashness. For 
he runs against the everlasting decree that he who takes up the 
sword shall perish by the sword.t Indeed if we accept the 


1 Matthew xxvi, 52. 
198 


ponte r@titcus VI-s 199 


authority of Cicero regarding such a man, he is rightly called 
not a soldier but an assassin. [or in the writings of the an- 
cients men are called assassins and brigands who follow the 
profession of arms without a commission from the law. For 
the arms which the law does not itself use, can only be used 
against the law. 

The sacred Gospel narrative bears witness that two swords 
are enough for the Christian imperium; all others belong to 
those who with swords and cudgels draw nigh to take Christ 
captive and seek to destroy His name. For wherein do they 
partake of the character of the true soldier who, although they 
may have been called, yet do not obey the law according to 
their oath, but deem the glory of their military service to consist 
in bringing contempt upon the priesthood, in cheapening the au- 
thority of the Church, in so extending the kingdom of man as 
to narrow the empire of Christ, and in proclaiming their own 
praises and flattering and extolling themselves with false com- 
mendations, thus imitating the braggart soldier to the amuse- 
ment of all who hear them? Their valor shines forth chiefly 
in stabbing with swords or tongues the clergy and the unarmed 
soldiery. But what is the office of the duly ordained soldiery? 
_ To defend the Church, to assail infidelity, to venerate the priest- 
hood, to protect the poor from injuries, to pacify the province, 
to pour out their blood for their brothers (as the formula of 
their oath instructs them), and, if need be, to lay down their 
lives. The high praises of God are in their throat, and two- 
edged swords are in their hands to execute punishment on the 
nations and rebuke upon the peoples, and to bind their kings in 
chains and their nobles in links of iron.? But to what end? 
To the end that they may serve madness, vanity, avarice, or 
their own private self-will? By no means. Rather to the end 
that they may execute the judgment that is committed to them 


2 Ps, cxlix, 6-8. 


200 John of Salisbury 


to execute; wherein each follows not his own will but the 
deliberate decision of God, the angels, and men, in accordance 
with equity and the public utility. I say “to the end that they 
may execute’; for as it is for judges to pronounce judgment, 
so it is for these to perform their office by executing it. 
Verily, “This honor have all His saints.” * For soldiers that 
do these things are “saints,” and are the more loyal to their 
prince in proportion as they more zealously keep the faith of 
God; and they advance the more successfully the honor of 
their own valor as they seek the more faithfully in all things 
the glory of their God. 


3 Ps. cxlix, 9. 


rea bile Re TX 


THAT THE FAITH WHICH IS OWED TO GOD IS TO BE PREFERRED 
BEFORE ANY MAN, NOR CAN MAN BE SERVED UNLESS GOD 
IS SERVED. 


It makes no difference whether a soldier serves one of the 
faithful or an infidel, so long as he serves without impairing or 
violating his own faith. For we read that men of the faith 
served Diocletian and Julian and other godless rulers as soldiers, 
and gave them loyalty and reverence as being princes engaged 
in the defence of the commonwealth. They fought against 
the enemies of the empire, but they kept the commandments 
of God; and if ever they were bidden to disobey the law, they 
preferred God before man. “Princes sat and accused them” ;* 
but they were practiced in the justifications of God, speaking 
firmly and doing His commandments without perplexity and 
with all loyalty. We also read that David served Achis, and 
observed toward him the loyalty and reverence of a soldier.’ 

This rule must be enjoined upon and fulfilled by every 
soldier, namely, that he shall keep inviolate the faith which he 
owes first to God and afterwards to the prince and to the com- 
monwealth. And greater things always take precedence over 
lesser, so that faith is not to be kept to the commonwealth nor 
to the prince contrary to God, but according to God, as the 
formula of the military oath itself puts it. Wherefore I marvel 
greatly if any prince dares to put his trust in those whom he 
sees not keeping the faith which they owe to their God, to 


-s. CXiX, 23. 2T Sam. xxvii, 2. 
201 


202 John of Salisbury 


whom, without mentioning other obligations, they are bound 
even by their military oath. Under what disease of the reason 
must a prince be laboring who trusts that a man will show fidelity 
to himself who before his eyes reveals himself as corrupt and 
faithless toward Him to whom he is under the greatest of all 
obligations? It may be said in answer that such a man fears 
his prince; but surely if another and stronger prince shall ap- 
pear upon the scene, he will fear him more. Perchance he loves 
his prince; but if another, who is kinder and more generous, 
shall appear, he will doubtless love him with an even greater 
love. There is nought which the godless wretch will not stoop 
to do who prefers man before God. It is vain to expect one 
to be true to his secondary loyalty who holds his primary loy- 
alty in no regard. 


wee ER Xx 


OF THE PRIVILEGES OF SOLDIERS, AND THAT THEY ARE BOUND 
TO THE CHURCH BY THEIR OATH, AND WHY THE SWORD 
IS OFFERED UPON THE ALTAR. 


Soldiers are rightly allowed many privileges of broad and 
generous scope by the ancient law.t For they are both more 
free and enjoy a larger number of immunities than other men. 
Thus they are excused from the angaria and parangaria,’ and 
from all base services; they are likewise permitted to plead ig- 
norance of the law; and, although under the patria potestas, they 
have the power to dispose by will of their peculiwm castrense. 
Most important of all, out of regard for the public safety they 
are not permitted to be in want, and they have many other 
special privileges of a similar character which would be too 
long to enumerate in detail. Though some of them do not 
regard themselves as bound to the Church by a solemn oath, be- 
cause today by general custom no such oath is actually taken, 
yet there is none who is not in fact under an obligation to the 
Church by virtue of a tacit oath if not of an express one. And 
perchance the solemnity of the oath has been given up for 
precisely the reason that the requirements of their office and the 
sincerity of their faith are a sufficient inducement and guarantee 
of the same result. Whence the solemn custom has now taken 
root, that on the day on which a man is girt with the belt of a 
soldier he goes solemnly to the church, and placing his sword 
on the altar like a sacrificial offering, and making as it were 
a public profession, he dedicates himself to the service of the 

ieee tee 10,19 2.; xxix, 1; xlix, 17; Justin., Code x, 47, 12; xi1, 16, 3. 


2 Forced services. 
203 


204 John of Salisbury 


altar and vows to God the never-failing obedience of his sword, 
that is to say, of his performance of the duties of his office. 
Nor is it needful that this profession should be made ex- 
pressly and in so many words, since the lawful profession of 
a soldier seems implicit in his act. Who would demand of an 
illiterate man whose duty is to know arms rather than letters, 
that he should make a profession in writing? Bishops and ab- 
bots are visibly bound to fidelity and obedience by a written 
or spoken profession; and they are truly bound, for it is not 
lawful to break faith with God. But it is surely an act of 
even greater, or at least of equal solemnity, which soldiers per- 
form when they offer up not a parchment but their sword, and 
as it were redeem from the altar the first-fruits of their office; 
whereby they enter into the perpetual service of the Church ; 
for as they must lawfully do all that in them lies for the Church, 
so it is not lawful for them to do aught against the Church. 
Luke relates * that the soldiers came to John to be baptized, 
asking him, “Master, what must we do?” And he said unto 
them, “Extort from no man by violence, neither accuse any one 
wrongfully, and be content with your wages.” A faithful say- 
ing worthy of all acceptance, and befitting the forerunner of 
grace, the herald of the Truth, the precursor of the Lord. For 
he knew that the military arm is only too prone to commit out- 
rages, is practiced and hardened in rapine, and seldom or never 
is so satisfied with its own that it does not lust after that which 
belongs to others. Therefore by forbidding extortion he closed 
the door to outrages, and by excluding false accusations he 
banished rapine. Also he condemned avarice when he bade 
each to be content with his own wages. For, as has been said, a 
soldier is never permitted to be in actual want, since, as long 
as he is in the service, he is paid the wages of his service, and, 
after he has been honorably discharged, he 1s provided from the 
public funds with land or such other support as his need requires 
3 Luke iti, 14. 


fends LE Re rd 


TeAT SOLDIERS ARE TO BE PUNISHED WITH. SEVERITY IF IN 
CONTEMPT OF MILITARY LAW THEY ABUSE THEIR PRIVILEGES. 


But if the soldier, contrary to the prohibition of John and 
the precepts of the law, falls into theft and rapine, he must 
be punished with the greater severity which is meet for one who 
has always handled a sword and dealt in harshness; and his 
audacity must be curbed to the end that he may be taught in 
his own person how severely men are to be punished who assail 
the law which they have undertaken to defend. For as sol- 
diers enjoy many immunities and privileges beyond other men, 
so they must be subjected to sharper penalties if convicted of 
having shown themselves unworthy of their privileges. Nor 
can they take advantage on this point of ignorance of the law, 
since while they have the privilege of being ignorant of the 
general public laws, they are not, however, permitted to be 
ignorant of their own duty. For although a priest may at the 
time of his ordination be ignorant of the particular difficulties 
attendant upon the life into which he is entering, nevertheless 
he is bound, simply because he takes up an office the difficulties 
of which are undeniable, to bear the burdens of the priesthood 
which he has assumed. And so if he is guilty of negligence or 
malice, he deserves punishment, which is all the more severe 
in proportion as they deserve greater punishment who, occupy- 
ing a station wherein much honor is due them, are yet discov- 
ered in secret or open crime. Crimes are punished in one man- 
ner, misdemeanors in another, since the former generally de- 

205 | 


206 John of Salisbury 


mand a penalty of blood, while the latter call rather for what 
may be described as medical treatment, according to the nature 
of the offence. Such treatment is at times simple, at others 
it must be combined, as it were, with a certain sharpness. 

In truth, although discipline is necessary in every profession, 
it is nowhere more so than in the clergy and the army; and 
the soldiers whose service is not performed in the spiritual field 
require the greater severity of corporeal punishment. 

There is no worse enemy of both services than luxury, be- 
cause all intemperance is utterly opposed to the good order 
which is implied in ordination. For where there is no order, 
confusion takes its place, and, unless it is repressed by the goad — 
of correction, without doubt it leads of necessity to dishonor. 
For what can a man do bravely whom luxury and intemperance 
have not so much disarmed as completely sapped of life? The 
fourth book of the Stratagems of Julius Frontinus relates that 
Publius Scipio, finding the army at Numantia corrupted by the 
laxity of his predecessors in the command, reformed it by dis- 
missing a vast number of camp-followers, and restoring the 
soldiers to fitness for service by daily exercises. With these 
he combined frequent marches, requiring the soldiers to carry 
provisions for several days, to the end that they might become 
accustomed to endure cold and rain, and to cross the fords of 
streams on foot. Meanwhile, he denounced them unceasingly 
for their faintheartedness and effeminacy, and he caused all the 
baggage to be broken up which was for the uses of luxury and 
a hindrance to efficiency. The most memorable incident of the 
whole episode occurred in connection with the tribune Gaius 
Nummius, to whom Scipio is reported to have said: “To me 
you are a nuisance for a little while, but you will always be 
a nuisance to yourself and to the commonwealth.” 

Quintus Metellus during the war with Jugurtha corrected a 
similar lapse of discipline by a like severity, and in addition for- 


Howewraticws. Vl rr 207 


bade his soldiers to eat meat otherwise prepared than roasted 
or boiled. Philip, when he was first forming his army, forbade 
any of his soldiers to ride in conveyances, permitted the knights 
to have only one servant apiece, and for every ten foot-soldiers 
allowed only one man to carry the hand-mills and cordage; 
when they were setting out on a summer campaign he ordered 
every man to carry a thirty days’ supply of flour on his back. 
Gaius Marius, to reduce the baggage, which is the greatest en- 
cumbrance of an army on the march, had the soldiers’ utensils 
and food packed into little bundles and fitted on forked instru- 
ments which made the weight more manageable, and also made 
it easier for them to rest; whence the proverb, “Marius has 
many soldiers, because they are all mules.” * 

The Spartan Lisander once punished a certain soldier who 
had fallen out of line. When the man protested that he had 
not left the column for the purpose of plundering, Lisander 
replied: “I do not want you to even give the appearance of a 
pillager.” Publius Nasica during the winter set his soldiers to 
building ships, although he had no use for a fleet, to the end 
that they might not be corrupted by idleness or tempted by the 
license of inactivity to commit outrages against their allies. 

Frontinus also tells, among other notable instances of stead- 
fastness, that the peoplé of Cassilinum, when besieged by Han- 
nibal, suffered such want that tradition relates that a mouse was 
sold for a hundred denarii, and that the seller perished of hun- 
ger, but the buyer survived; and in such straits they preserved 
their loyalty to the Romans. The.people of Petilia, when be- 
sieged by the Carthaginians, drove out their aged parents and 
young children because of their dire want, while they themselves 
sustained life upon leather moistened and dried in the fire, and 
upon the leaves of trees and every kind of living thing; and in 


1]t is impossible to reproduce the Latin pun in English. 


208 John of Salisbury 


this way they held out during a siege of eleven months. The 
Spaniards of Fabra 2 endured all the same privations and still 
did not surrender their town to Herculeius. When Metridates 
was besieging Cizium he caused the captured citizens to be 
led out and displayed to the besieged, thinking that pity for 
the sufferings of their fellows would force the townsmen to 
surrender. But, instead, they exhorted the captives to meet 
death bravely, and preserved their loyalty to the Romans. The 
people of Eglonia,? when Juriatus offered to restore to them 
their children and wives, preferred to behold the tortures of 
their dear ones rather than prove unfaithful to the Romans. 
The people of Numantium, rather than surrender, preferred to 
die of hunger behind the barred doors of their homes; ‘and, on 
the authority of Orosius, they would have conquered the Ro- 
mans had not the latter fought under Scipio. 


2 These names represent a corruption of the text of Frontinus; see 
Gundermann’s edition, iv., 5, §§ 19, 22, pp. 132, 133. 


eer TE Re xo 


THAT THERE ARE VARIOUS KINDS OF PUNISHMENT FOR THOSE 
WHO DISOBEY THEIR COMMANDER, AND HOW FAR OBEDIENCE 
IS DUE; AND IN RESPECT OF WHAT COMMANDS MILITARY 
JURISDICTION IS COMPETENT AND WHERE NOT. 


Various kinds of punishment were meted out to those who 
did not obey the precept of their commander or of the law. 
For some are punished in point of fortune, others in reputation, 
others corporally. Read through Frontinus and you will find 
throughout that this is so. Thus the consul Aurelius Cotta, 
when under the compulsion of necessity he had ordered the 
knights to come to his aid, and part of them refused to obey 
the command, lodged a complaint with the censors with the 
result that they were reprimanded by the Senate. He also 
caused their back pay to be cancelled; and the tribunes brought 
_ the matter before the plebeians, and the disciplinary action was 
confirmed by the consent of all. Quintus Metellus Macedonicus 
in Spain once ordered five cohorts which had given way before 
the enemy to make their wills, and sent them back to recover 
the position which they had lost, warning them that he would 
not receive them back until they were victorious. The Senate, 
when the troops of Publius Valerius had disgracefully fled, re- 
solved that no reinforcements should be sent him until he had 
conquered the enemy. The legions which during the Punic 
war had refused military service were banished to Sicily, and 
by a decree of the Senate were put on barley rations for seven 
years. The decision of Appius Claudius and the decree of the 
Senate punished all who had been captured by Pirrus, king of 

209 


216 John of Salisbury 


Epirus, and were afterwards returned, by reducing those who 
were knights to the rank of foot-soldiers, and those who were 
foot-soldiers to the ranks of soldiers of the light-armed class, and 
all were ordered to remain outside the city walls until each in- 
dividual could bring back the trophies of two of the enemy. So 
much from Frontinus. Pliny says that another military pun- 
ishment used in ancient times was to order a cowardly soldier 
to have a vein opened and lose blood; and although he could 
not find in the old writings the reason for this, he thinks that 
it was first done in the case of soldiers whose spirit was numbed 
and depressed below their normal temper, so that it appeared 
to be rather a kind of medical treatment than a punishment ; but 
afterwards he thinks that it came to be applied from custom to 
other offences generally, as if all soldiers were thought to be out 
of health who transgressed against their duty. The less im- 
portant offences were not visited with shameful punishments, 
although even as to these no room was left for carelessness, 
because of the strictness of military discipline. 

It is a well-known tradition that the ancient Greeks wore a 
ring on the finger next to the little finger of the left hand. It 
is said that among the Romans also such rings were in common 
use; and the reason of this, says Apion in his Egyptian books, is 
because it has been found by the dissection and opening up of 
bodies, which was practiced among them and which the Greeks 
call “anatomy,” that a certain extremely fine and slender nerve 
runs from this finger whereof we are speaking directly to a 
man’s heart and into it; so that it seemed proper that this 
finger in especial should be adorned with such a mark of 
honor because it was seen to have such close connection with 
the heart, the ruling seat of the body. Wherefore they thought 
that men were to be given medical treatment or punished, as 
having no hearts, who transgressed against their duty as soldiers. 

To return to Frontinus,! it is narrated by Sempronius Asellus 


1 This should be Gellius, I, xiii, §§ 10, 11. 


igi 


Policraticus VI feo 211 


and many other writers of Roman history that Crassus held 
five things to be his chief and principal blessings in life: to 
wit, that he was surpassingly rich, that he was of the noblest 
birth, that he excelled in eloquence, that he was deeply learned 
in the law, and that he was pontifex maximus. Such was the 
man who, having obtained during his consulship the province 
of Asia and when he was preparing to invest and besiege the 
city of Leucas, found that there was need of a long heavy beam 
to construct a battering ram wherewith to break down the walls 
of the city. He accordingly wrote to Magnus Gaius, the 
mayor of the Athenian allies and friends of the Roman people, 
to procure and send to him whichever was the larger of two 
masts that he had seen among them. Then Magnus Gaius, hav- 
ing learned the purpose for which the mast was desired, sent 
him not the larger of the two as Crassus had commanded, but 
the one which in his own opinion was the more suitable and 
better fitted to make a battering ram, as being the easier to 
carry, and this chanced to be the smaller of the two. Crassus 
bade him to be summoned before him, and after asking him 
why he had not sent the one which he had ordered, rejected 
utterly the reasons and excuses which he offered, and ordered 
his garments to be stripped from him and caused him to be 
severely flogged with rods, deeming that the authority of a 
commander is wholly destroyed and brought to nought if one 
who is bidden to do a thing responds not by duly obeying, 
but by giving advice which is not asked. 

What more severe judgment, I ask, could a stern abbot have 
pronounced against a monk of the stricter rule? For he had 
transgressed only in this, that he had not obeyed the command 
which was given him, although perchance what he actually did 
was really more useful and advantageous. For as those who 
follow the religious life ought not to discuss but to carry out 
the commands of their superiors so long as they are not in 
conflict with the eternal commandment; so in military service 


B12 - John of Salisbury 


there must be no questioning of the commander’s orders by 
the soldier, unless perchance the thing which is ordered is 
found to be expressly hostile to the safety of the commonwealth. 
For in that case none but a faithless and godless soldier will 
comply. For what is more wicked, what more detestable, than, 
without regard for the requirements of loyalty and good-faith, 
to assail anything, no matter what, that a man’s commander 
orders him to assail? Is it not in the eyes of all a melancholy 
and cruel speech and full of faithless perfidy which says: 


“Tf you bid me plunge my sword in my brother’s heart or my 
father’s throat, 

Or into the womb of my wife big with child, 

I will do in full your bidding, though with unwilling hand; 

If you bid me pitch a camp on the waters of the Tuscan Tiber 

I will boldly walk like a surveyor into the Hesperian fields. 

Whatsoever walls you wish to level with the plain, 

A battering ram propelled by these muscles will scatter their 
stones, 

Though the city which you wish to be thus utterly wiped out 
should be Rome herself.” ? 


What more wicked speech could there be, or whereat a Roman 
Emperor ought more greatly to be offended if he were truly 
faithful? For the infamous soldier seeks to prove the faith- 
fulness of his faith precisely by convicting himself of the 
greatest faithlessness and perfidy. Great reverence is of course 
due to the commander, but always saving the sanctity of the 
soldier’s faith. Some things are so necessary that they require 
no command ; others so detestable that no command will possibly 
justify them or render them permissible. Other things in- 
termediate between the two classes, and which are neither 
necessary goods nor detestable evils, rest in the discretion of the 
commander. Whether the commander consents or not, God 


2 Lucan, Phars. i, 376-86. 


Poelimeraticus VI-r2 213 


must be loved because of the necessity of doing that which is 
right. Whether the commander consents or not, adultery must 
be declined because of the wickedness of iniquity. But such 
matters as whether or not to enter on a campaign, whether or 
not to conduct a foray or a sortie, and other things which the 
philosophers count as “indifferent,” are left to the discretion of, 
and raise only the question of the respect due to, the commander. 
In such matters it is a crime even to blink an eye save at the 
commander’s bidding, or disrespectfully to lift a hand, on the 
basis of one’s own knowledge, to the accomplishment of any 
work. He that is under subjection must be blind on this side 
as a condition of living, for the day that of his own discretion 
_he raises a rash hand to the tree of knowledge which God re- 
serves for Himself and for those in authority, he runs into 
the noose of death. For it is not lawful for subjects to judge 
what is good or bad in such matters, but rather to show complete 
respect for those in authority and faithfully obey their com- 
mands. 

Therefore the soldier, in all things which pertain to the duties 
of his public station, must attempt nought at all unless the thing 
which he believes should be done is first confirmed by the com- 
mand or permission of his leader. Wherefore in many in- 
stances those who, spurning their commanders, or not waiting 
for their orders, have joined battle with the enemy of the com- 
monwealth and been victorious, have often received not so much 
glory for their victory as punishment for their rashness or 
disobedience. What then does a deserter or one who quits 
his post deserve, if military discipline punishes even the victor 
with such severity? 

In the Stratagems of Julius there is found a story that Clear- 
cus the Spartan general said that an army ought to stand in 
greater fear of their own commander than of the enemy, be- 
cause the death which they feared in battle was at least doubtful, 
while the punishment that awaited those who deserted: their 


214 John of Salisbury 


posts was certain. Lucius Papilius Cursor, when his master 
of the horse, Fabius Ruptilius, had fought a battle contrary 
to his orders, though with a successful outcome, demanded that 
he be flogged and was on the point of beheading him; nor 
would he remit the punishment in response to the protest and 
prayers of the soldiers, and when Fabius escaped to Rome, he 


nls bn ge i ali tea ese PLR aa 


pursued him thither; and even then Fabius was not relieved : 
from fear of punishment until he and his father had prostrated \ 


themselves at his knees, and the Senate and people likewise re- 


quested it. And that you may not attribute this to old enmity ‘ 
between them, Mallius, whose surname was afterwards “the @ 


imperious,” caused his own son to be flogged and beheaded in 


the sight of the army because he had fought with the enemy 
contrary to the command of his father, even though he had ~ 


been victorious. Indeed, just as military discipline is essen- 


tial to the commonwealth, so it is taken in good part by all, 


to the point that even the younger Mallius, when the army was 


preparing to mutiny in his favor against his father, reminded | 
them that no man was of sufficient importance to justify the — 
subversion of military discipline on his account, and so he per- ~ 
suaded them to let him bear his punishment. Appius Claudius, ~ 


when some of his troops had broken and given way in battle, 
caused each tenth man of the culprits, chosen by lot, to be 


beaten to death with a cudgel. Fabius Rutilius, when consul, — 


selected twenty men by lot from each of two legions which — 


had given way, and caused them to be beheaded in sight of all 


the soldiers. He also condemned to the axe three men from > 


each of the centuries whose position the enemy had broken 
through. Quintus Fabius Maximus cut off the right hands 
of deserters. Marcus Cato tells us that men who were caught 
thieving among their fellow-soldiers had their right hands cut 
off, or if it was desired to be more lenient to the culprit, for 
first offences the penalty was blood-letting. Mutiny was pun- 


ished by beheading, to the end that by the punishment of a few 


onrratecus Vi 12 215 


the authority of the commander might reéstablished, and with 
it the security and repose of the commonwealth. Julius Cesar 
when a mutiny broke out is said to have restored order in 
the camp and to have won back the soldiers to obedience by 
putting a few to death. 


CHAE X11] 


WHY SOLDIERS ARE DEPRIVED OF THEIR BELT, AND THAT A 
SOLDIER WHO HAS BEEN DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED HOLDS 
NO COMMERCE WITH SWORD OR SPEAR, AND WHY THE 
SWORD IS INSERTED IN THE BELT. 


It happens at times that for some transgression soldiers are 
deprived of their military belt, especially in cases where they 
are guilty of sacrilege! For by the old law it was ordained, 
and the provision is not abolished in the new, that whoever does 
not keep his military oath, and attacks the religion which he 
professes, shall be punished by the loss of his belt. It is said 
that by this edict Julius kept his soldiers in check, since it was 
unlawful for them upon their entrance into the city to rob the 
inhabitants or the temples of the gods; and that afterwards 
when the revolt grew more serious, this brought reproach upon 
him;'* for being bound by oath to the Roman divinities and 
citizens they could not rightfully attack those whom their 
oath obliged them to defend. Also Gaius Curio, during the 
Dardanian war about Dirachium, when he saw one of his five 
legions becoming mutinous, ordered it to advance unarmed and 
compelled the men to cut straw without their belts in sight of 
the armed legions, and at the end of the day he compelled the 
soldiers to dig a ditch, also without their belts; nor could the 
prayers of the legion move him not to strike its standards and 
abolish its name; and he distributed the soldiers to fili out the 


1 See Justin., Code ska 
18 This is the only rendering I can suggest for Webb's reading “im- 
properavit”; earlier printed editions have “improperant.” 
216 


perecraiscus VI -3r3 217 


other legions. Those who had thus deserved to be deprived 
of their belts were not restored before they had signalized them- 
selves by the merit of virtues excelling others. The troops who 
had given way in the fight at Cannae and were banished to 
Cicily, besought the consul Marcus Marcellus to lead them into 
battle. He took counsel of the Senate, and the Senate declared 
that they were not willing to entrust the safety of the common- 
wealth to men who had deserted it. Nevertheless they per- 
mitted Marcellus to do what he deemed best, providing how- 
ever by law that none of the men concerned should be granted 
a furlough or presented with any reward or honor, .or per- 
mitted to return to Italy so long as the Carthaginians remained 
there; and during the time that they were deprived of their 
belts, they neither received any pay nor enjoyed any of the 
privileges of soldiers, nor held any commerce with sword ot 
spear. And for this reason by a far-sighted provision of the 
ancients, the sword is inserted in the belt, namely to show that 


a by the conferring of the honor of the belt the power of the 


sword is also conferred. And whoever enters into military 
service is rightly decorated with the belt because the necessity 
of his office demands that he shall always be girded up for the 
service of the commonwealth. For a man is wont to be girded 
up who has pressing duties incumbent upon him; while one who 
is on a furlough or vacation is allowed to be ungirt. Where- 
fore the saying in the Book of Kings: “Let not him that is 
girded up boast as one that is ungirt’”’;” for anxiety in the face 
of impending labor leaves no leisure for boasting, while the 


q liberty of idleness and the security of repose commonly produce 


an exulting spirit. The belt is therefore a symbol of labor, and 


labor deserves honor, so that it should be clear to all that he 


who refuses to submit to the labor which is imposed upon mili- 
tary service as its distinguishing mark, vainly wears the honor 


2] Kings xx, ii. 


218 John of Salisbury — 


of a sword in a soldier’s belt. The significance of the belt is 
destroyed unless labor confirms and solidifies the truthfulness 
of the symbol. You can see many puffed up with the honor 
of the belt, but unless the honor is filled out by the merit of 
labor, it is as if a man were to sell froth for solid substance. 
Truly, the soldier deserves to lose his privilege who abuses the 
power which has been conferred upon him, One so abuses it 
by not doing what he ought to do, or by doing what he ought 
not to do, and, although either is bad, still a positive offence is 
more serious than a mere delict or omission. For a man 
commits a delict who does not fulfil his duty; he commits a 
positive offence, or sin, when he goes contrary to it. Thus 
‘black is more opposed than is “not white” to white, and sad- 
ness is more opposed to joy than are hope or fear, which latter, 
while they are not reckoned to the account of gladness, are on 
the other hand not directly the opposite thereof. But still a 
soldier abuses his belt who does not perform in full what he 
is obligated by his military oath to perform, just as does one 
who acts directly contrary to his oath. But he offends the 
more gravely who commits a positive adverse act, on the prin- 
ciple that an enemy is more to be hated than a cowardly soldier. 
Wherefore one who with military weapons attacks the common- 
wealth and its unarmed hand is most justly expelled with dis- 
honor from the service, quite as if he had assumed the charac- 
ter of an enemy. But the severest of all punishments is pre- 
scribed by both human and divine law for those who commit 
sacrilege, and with diverse disturbances assail the Church of 
God; and these the law punishes not by the loss of their right 
hands, but with the death penalty. Though Cicero and Demos- 
tenes should undertake to act as their advocates, though in their 
defence Quintilian should whet his tongue and exhaust all the 
powers of his genius, still if the law prevails, a thing which 
under God is in the hands of the prince, they cannot save 
their fortunes and their lives from the unerring stroke of the 


mover arcous Vil 313 219 


_ punishment which the law prescribes. And if the prince puts 
_ not forth his sword against such offenders, beyond doubt he 

_ provokes against himself the two-edged sword which the Son 
of Man bears in His mouth, a sword which is quick and sure 
beyond all others, which cleaves the body and the soul and sends 
_ them to Gehenna; against which every other sword is dull, and 
all armor of defence fragile, flimsy and unavailing, save that 
alone which grace prepares out of a fabric of good works. And 
_ yet the number is legion of those who when they offer their 
_ belt upon the altar for the purpose of consecrating themselves to 
_ military service, their evil works seem to cry aloud and proclaim 
that they have approached the altar with the intention of de- 
_ claring war against it and its ministers, and even against God 


_ Himself who is worshipped there. I should more readily be- 
3 lieve that such men were eee to infamy than consecrated 
to lawful warfare. 


CHA PT Eka 


THAT MILITARY DISCIPLINE IS OF THE GREATEST USE, AND OF 
WHAT CHIEFLY DESTROYS MILITARY STRENGTH. 


Therefore military discipline is necessary, and I cannot easily 
say how great is the utility thereof. As has been said, disci- 
pline profited the Romans to the point that they subjected the 
whole world to their sway. Also Alexander of Macedon, who 
inherited from his father a small but well-trained army, after 
habituating it to service, attacked the world and overthrew 
countless hosts of foes. Xerses was checked at Termopilae by 
scarce three hundred Spartans, and after he had with difficulty 
destroyed them by his enormous force and at the cost of a large 
number of his men, he said that he had been thus trapped be- 
cause, while he had many men, none of them were steadfast 
in discipline. And this was the truth, as was attested by their 
flight at Salamis, where shameful defeat came upon that king 
who led to war so many nations that even their leaders could 
scarce be numbered; and he escaped with barely a single ship. 
For it is said that his custom was to count the leaders of his 
army because of their multitude by taking a spear from each 
leader, so that from the number of the spears the number of 
the leaders might be ascertained. But a leader is utterly useless 
who does not maintain discipline among his men; and he hopes 
in vain for victory who does not assiduously train both the 
minds and hands of his soldiers. One who becomes a soldier 
suddenly, will desert his leader with like suddenness, nor will 
a soldier be steadfast to endure labor who has not been trained 

220 


a ie, 


Poeiperaticus Vil ra 221 


and practiced in labor continually. Czesar was confident of 
heart because he found opposed to him an army of sudden sol- 
diers and a superannuated leader who during the long repose 
of peace had unlearned the art of leadership. 

Even when victory is despaired of, the heart may still be 
roused to courage by the hope of revenge. For at times 


“The only safety of the vanquished is to hope for no safety,” ? 


and to regard themselves as victorious if none dies unavenged. 
To sate revenge then comes to be looked upon as a great boon; 
and loss of life is well repaid by the consolation of vengeance. 
A man easily falls in with the necessity of fighting if he has 
difficulty in finding any way of escape. Men who are aggres- 
sors tend to dare too much, and often their opponents by desir- 
ing to die honorably and manfully have the good fortune to 
win the victory. For “fortune favors the brave’ * and, when 
the crisis of the fight impends, 


“The degenerate mind is disclosed by fear,” ® 


than which nought is more disgraceful in those who profess the 
name and office of a soldier. For military law visits the cow- 
ardly with its greatest severities. 

The leader in war must also use the utmost care 


“That women and wine do not make soft the soldier’s heart.” 4 


For luxury always conquers, but only those whose strength it 
has first sapped; and it is to be avoided the more zealously for 
the greater fierceness with which it rages among its votaries. 
Antiochus formed an army of such luxury and extravagance 
that even the common soldiers made their boots of gold, and 
trod under foot the stuff for love whereof the peoples war. 


1Verg., Aen. ii, 354. 2 Aen. x, 284. 
3 Aen, iv, 13. 4Ov., Fast. 1, 301. 


222 John of Salisbury 


Also the Parthian nation is frequently vanquished because it is 
so luxurious. For 


“As you advance toward the land of the dawn and the heat of the 
world, 
The mildness of the sky softens the nations.” ® 


They are not wont to meet in the front and shock of battle hand 
to hand, but try so far as may be to injure the enemy from a 
distance. They do not know how to sit down before a city and 
win it by patience and strength. They fight mounted on horses 
which charge and then turn their backs, pretending flight. By 
ancient custom they give their signals not with the trumpet 
but with the timbrel; nor can they fight long, for they would 
be irresistible if their endurance equalled their onset. By na- 
ture silent, more ready to act than to speak, sparing of food, 
with no fidelity to word or promise, they obey their chiefs 
from fear, not from respect or duty. But a government which 
is corrupted by luxury, cannot long stand, or if it stands, will 
vomit forth under the pressure of God’s judgment whatever 
it has drunk down with immoderate luxury. It does not know 
its own just measure, nor will it repress its intemperance before 
it has fallen into the last extremity of baseness through overin- 
dulgence in license. ‘ 

Analyze the calamities of the Assyrians and you will be con- 
vinced by the testimony of history that luxury was the cause 
which overturned their kingdoms. Among other things Trogus 
tells that Sardanapallus, the last king of the Assyrians, was 
more feeble and corrupted than a woman. A prefect, who by 
the greatest effort had at last with difficulty obtained admission 
to his presence, a thing which had never before been permitted 
to any, found him among flocks of harlots spinning purple 
thread from a distaff, wearing the garb of a woman, and sur- 


5 Lucan, Phars. vii, 365-6. 


Poewmorcticus VI I4 223 


passing all the women in the softness of his body and the wan- 


tonness of his eyes, as he divided the threads among the virgins. 
Having seen these things, the prefect was indignant that such 
a might of men, handling steel and bearing arms, should be un- 
der subjection to this woman, and reported to his comrades the 
things which he had seen. He said that he for one refused to 
obey a ruler who chose to be a woman rather than a man. 
A conspiracy was therefore formed; upon hearing of which, 
the king retired to his royal hall, and building a great pyre, 
lighted it and consigned himself and all his riches to the flames ; 
herein alone imitating a man. 

And thus when the ruggedness of earlier kings is sapped 
by luxury, effeminacy increases among their successors as 
it were from step to step, until at last, when it reaches the final 
pitch of womanish weakness, there comes destruction and dis- 
solution. The Roman empire was almost prostrated and rent 


~ asunder under Nero, who devoured all things by his gluttony, 
_ befouled them with his lust, drained them by his avarice, shat- 


tered them by his cowardice, sucked out their life by his lux- 


ury and pride. He never donned a garment twice, that there 
might be at least one point wherein he could outshine all others 


by a glory exclusive and peculiar to himself. So long as 


Rome permitted, he made the whole world inglorious; what- 
ever the industry of others accumulated was wasted by his 
idleness. 


CHAP TE Rae 


THAT THE ROMANS WERE STRONG BEYOND ALL OTHER NATIONS 
IN POINT OF DISCIPLINE, AND THAT AMONG THEM JULIUS 
CESAR WAS SUCCESSFUL BEYOND ALL OTHERS. 


| 


But when I turn over the examples of all the nations, the — 


discipline of the Romans shines forth far in excess of the rest. 
We read, however, that the Mcesians were also greatly ad- 
vantaged by discipline, so that, few as they were, after they 
had overcome their neighbors, they dared to contend with the 
Romans for the empire of nations. How fierce they were may 
be gathered from the words of one of their chiefs when they 
were about to fight against the Romans. Standing before the 
battle line he commanded silence, and then, ‘“Who are you?” he 
asked. The reply was, “We are the Romans, lords of the na- 
tions.” “So you will be,” he answered, “if you vanquish us.” 
The conflict was long and terrible, but in the end the Romans 
were victorious, having the greater numbers and the greater 
strength, and being the more experienced and better practiced, 
but not till they had lost many of their men because the strug- 
gle was against a people firmly grounded in discipline. 
Furthermore, in the whole range of military affairs there is 
nought more conducive to success, nor more splendid, than an 
accomplished general. For the valor and industry of the gen- 
eral balance the effectiveness of the army, as is proverbially 
said, like the other pan of the scale. Antiquity ascribed the 
triumphs of Cesar rather to the general than to the army. For 
as Solinus says:! “As Senicius or Sergius among soldiers, so 


1 Solinus. i, 106, 107. 
224 


Peoecratecus Vi 15 225 


among generals or rather among all mankind Cesar the dictator 
far outshone the rest. In his campaigns Ninias reckoned that 
“eleven hundred and twenty-two thousand of the enemy were 
slain. He fought fifty-two pitched battles, in this respect being 
the only commander to surpass the record of Marcus Marcellus, 
who fought thirty-nine. In addition to this, none wrote more 
swiftly, none read more rapidly—he is said to have dictated four 
letters simultaneously,—and he was endowed with such kindness 
that those whom he had subdued by arms he vanquished more 
completely by his mercy.” 


CHAP LE hears 


WHAT MISCHIEFS HAPPEN TO OUR COUNTRYMEN FROM LACK 
OF DISCIPLINE. 


But why do I hark back and brood upon the valor of the 
men of old times? Our age has run out, and is reduced al- 
most to nought, is puffed up with empty honors but ignorant 
of the degrees of honor, delights in the vanity of words and 
names, but despises the true and fruitful substance of realities. 
The gamester, the fowler, and, whereat you will the more 
greatly marvel, makers of foolish songs, and men who have 
never dealt in any manly deeds nor have the marks of duty 
on them (for bristling beard and hardened skin are now in 
disrepute as being unmeet for works of wantonness) today 
put on the soldier, aspire to command and authority, and hold 
themselves out as leaders and teachers of a calling which 
they themselves have never learned. Truly valor never en- 
larged the boundaries of an empire which such men will not 
avail to diminish and altogether exhaust its strength. If you do 
not believe me, believe at least the results. I hesitate from 
shame to speak of what it is painful and shameful to endure. 
While our armed soldiery snores, while they assault the chastity 
of others and prostitute their own, while they go about the 
houses of the nobles exploring for banquets that they may 
daily feast in splendor, while they hurl projectiles of bombast 
and words half-a-yard long, butchering bloodlessly the Saracens 
and the Parthians and whoever else is reckoned under the name 
of foe, while our braggart soldiers are thus occupied, the men 
of Snowdon remain untamed, the unarmed Britons increase 

226 


Policraticus VI 16 227 


in pride and daring, and almost reduce to surrender and make 
tributary the very Palatine counts who glory in the blood of 
kings. There is none who is willing to come to grips with 
them, or who has the valor to test their mettle in equal battle. 
Soldiers protected by armor try to draw unarmed antagonists 
out on to open ground, while men without armor try to draw 
armed opponents into the woods, but because they have no con- 
fidence in their own valor, none of our soldiers will pursue them 
thither. Would that they had kept in mind what the Roman 
history tells concerning the Cisalpines in the words which 
follow:+ “The inhabitants of the Cisalpines have the hearts 
of wild beasts and bodies more than human; but it has been 
found by experience that their’ valor, although in the first 
onset it exceeds that of men, becomes afterwards less than that 
of women. For the bodies of the Alpines, reared under a 
humid sky, have a certain resemblance to their own clouds; 
when they have once become hot in the fight, straightway they 
dissolve into moisture and rapid motion as though by the ac- 
tion of the sun.” Elsewhere the fierceness of the Alpine peo- 
ples is clearly shown even by their women, who, when weapons 
run out, dash their babes to the ground and hurl them in the face 
of their advancing foes. If there were any who would fight 
our men of Snowdon, they would be conquered beyond a doubt, 
but as Amentius says, “There is none who will do the things 
which ought to be done, nay which fortune almost compels 
to be done spontaneously.””. An unarmed, unwarlike and bar- 
barous tribe attack an armed province and waste and ravage 
it; a people who in their own homes are always hungry sate 
themselves from our substance and make luxurious holiday at 
our expense, while our soldiery gives way before them. For 
must we not say that soldiers give way who do not repulse an 
invading and threatening foe? But neither love of country nor 


Prior,,.i, 20 (iv, 4, §§ 1, 2). 


228 John of Salisbury 


love of possessions, neither loss of future security from the 
enemy nor the sting of shame, has sufficed to arouse the valor 
of our soldiery, which is now insolently mocked by the unarmed 
Welsh. There is a proverb which says that “unhappy is the 
land which is pillaged by ostlers and muleteers.” If our sol- 
diers can not be aroused by manly exhortation to act like men, 
would that the mothers and wives of those who will not stand 
fast might urge them to valor! 

For this suggestion is found in the ancient histories. Thus 


when the Medes invaded Persia, and the Persian battle-line — 


was beaten and put to flight, and, giving way utterly, dared not 
think of victory, everywhere their mothers and wives ran across 
the path of the fugitives, and, forming a close line of women, 
implored them to return to the battle. When they refused, the 
women tore off their garments, and bared the privy parts of 
their bodies, asking whether they wished to take refuge within 
the wombs of their mothers and wives. Checked by this re- 
buke they returned to the battle, and, making a charge, com- 
pelled those to flee from whom they themselves before were 
fleeing. Would that the wives and mothers of our Lords of 
the Marches would do the like, that by some means, no matter 
what, they may preserve their country’s safety and remove the 
stain upon its honor! 


Mire eR xX V.LT 


THAT WE HAVE EXAMPLES OF VALOR GIVEN US BY OUR OWN 
COUNTRYMEN, AND OF THE CITIES WHICH BRENNUS 
FOUNDED IN ITALY ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT HISTORIES. 


But what we now demand of our countrymen has long since 
gone by, and the valor of our ancestors has so flowed away and 
spread itself abroad among other nations, that the rich and abun- 
dant vein of the original source seems to have wasted itself in 
the rivulets. For we are furnished with examples of valor not 
only by the Romans and the Greeks, but we abound in native 
examples. The histories tell that Brennus, the leader of the 
Senones, who destroyed the army of the Romans at the river 
Allia, and attacked the city of Rome itself and captured it; who 
then, after killing the senators and subduing Italy, invaded 
Greece, and laying waste everything as he went, and spreading 
terror everywhere, advanced to the very temple of Delphian 
Apollo on Mount Parnassus, where, lusting after the spoils of 
Apollo himself, he jested scurillously, saying that wealthy gods 
ought to bestow generous bounty upon men,—this Brennus, 
I say, is traditionally supposed to have sprung from greater 
Britain, which since the coming of the Saxons into the island 
is called England. In the twentieth book of Trogus Pompeius 
is found the statement that the Senonian Gauls, the comrades 
in arms of Brennus, after they had come into Italy, expelled 
the Tuscans from their seats, and founded there the excellent 
cities of Milan, Como, Brescia, Verona, Bergamo, Trent and 
Vicenza. That they built the city of Siena for their old people 
229 


230 John of Salistury 


and invalids and herdsmen is not only narrated by trustworthy 
history but is a widespread and well-known tradition; which 
is rendered the more probable by the fact that the Siennese in 
the shape of their limbs, the .comeliness of their faces and the 
beauty of their coloring, and even in their manners, seem to 
resemble the Gauls and Britons from whom they took their ori- 
gin, although the passage of time, the difference in climate, 
the location of their country, and intercourse with their neigh- 
bors, with whom they have long mingled in blood and customs, 
have of course changed them greatly. But still not even all 
these things have sufficed to blot out their Gallic coloring, namely 
their fairness, and reduce them to the likeness of their neigh- 
bors. For the Greeks call milk “galac,’ whence the “milky 
way” takes its name of “galaxy”; and the Gauls are so called 
from their milky coloring, as are the Galathae, who are also 
sometimes called Gallo-Greeks, in those parts of Greece which 
the Gallic soldiery seized and occupied. The army which Bren- 
nus led remained triumphant and unconquered until he dared to 


| 
| 


rise up against the gods themselves, attacking the very temple of 


Apollo at Delphi. Then, when the inhabitants piteously im- 
plored the aid of the God, they saw a youth of superhuman 
form and beauty on the roof of the shrine. The twang of a 
bow was heard and the clash of weapons; and suddenly an 
earthquake tore away a part of the mountain and buried the 
Gallic army. Then followed a tempest which destroyed the 
wounded with hail and cold. Duke Brennus himself, unable 
to endure the pain of his injuries, ended his life with a dagger. 
Nor need any be disturbed by the fact that Apollo, as has 
been said, appeared in his temple for the purpose of checking 
the audacity and destroying the army of the unconquered leader, 
who, by the permission of God and because the sins of men 
demanded it, had destroyed many nations; for it is certain that 
the powers of the air do much mischief against those who are 
without wholesome faith and are ignorant of the true religion. 


Poaieraticus VI 7 231 


For grace is withdrawn from such, and evil spirits are given - 
license to harm them, since without the permission of God 
these spirits have no power to harm at all, even if they so de- 
‘sire, and, as is shown by the testimony of the Gospel, without 
‘permission given them, they would neither dare nor be able 
even to go away into a herd of swine. 


CHAPTE RAW Ie 


INSTANCES FROM RECENT HISTORY; AND OF HOW KING HENRY 
THE SECOND CALMED THE TEMPESTS AND HURRICANES OF 
KING STEPHEN’S TIME AND BROUGHT PEACE TO THE ISLAND. 


And because the history of Brennus may perchance be thought 
by some to be too remote to prove the valor of a nation which 
is not deficient in native character but in instruction, practice, 
art, and perchance also in leadership, I shall come nearer to our 
own time, and state briefly facts which are well known to al- 
most all. 

With what valor of Englishmen Cnud crushed the Daci and 
Danes and quelled the outbreaks of the Norwegians is clear 
from the fact that, for the merit of the excellent prowess then 
mightily and conspicuously displayed, our own Kent holds to 
this day the honor of the first cohort and the right to be the 
first to charge the enemy in all battles. Also the province 
of Severus, which by the modern usage of its inhabitants is 
called by the name of Wiltshire, claims for itself by the 
same right the reserve cohort in company with Devon and Corn- 
wall. 

I come down to our own times. The king of the English who 
was surnamed Rufus, an able warrior but insufficiently re- 
ligious, and who by his persecution of the saints, and especially 
of St. Anselm of Canterbury, is seen to have provoked against 
himself the arrow of hatred wherewith he was strangled; he, 
I say, stormed Cenomannum, captured the count, and yet did 

232 


Roeevorcizenus Vl 18 233 


not deign to consign him to the custody of a prison; and this 
great deed will be attested forever by Mount Barbatus, or 
if you prefer to use another name, let it be called Mount Bar- 
barus, or the Mount of Barbarians. I pass on to his successor, 
the famous King Henry, who was called the Lion of Justice, 
and who, as is well known, was feared mightily not only by the 
cities but also by the towers and fortresses of Gaul. How he 
defeated and put to flight the king of the Franks in a pitched 
battle, I deliberately pass over to avoid becoming tedious by 
repeating matters which are well known, since his victory is 
famous and many witnesses thereof who took part in the battle 
survive in both realms. So too the story of how he captured the 
_ duke of the Normans, a warlike man and an able soldier who had 
_ returned from the deliverance of Jerusalem, and how under the 
shadow of a title he entered the boundaries of another’s king- 
dom, I regard it as superfluous to relate, since even younger 
men than I have seen the captive in public confinement, though 
with all due respect paid to his station and his blood. To this 
_ the Norman nobles also testify, some of them captured, others 
_ imprisoned, others disinherited to this day; and the grave of 
the captive duke is also to be seen among us. 

Finally, not to seek far afield for examples, his grandson, 
who is destined, if the merit of his virtues cleaves until the end 
to the grace which has already been bestowed upon him, to be 
the greatest king of the whole age among the British lands, as 
well as the most fortunate duke of the Normans and Aqui- 
tanians, surpassing all others not only in power and wealth 
but also in the splendor of his virtues, needs not to have me 
say how able, how magnificent, how prudent, how modest, he 
_ has been from his very infancy, so to speak, since even envy 
cannot remain silent or dissimulate in the presence of his re- 
cent and manifest achievements, which have spread abroad his 
virtues and titles of honor in a continuous chain from the bound- 
aries of the British lands to the Spanish frontier. 


224 John of Salisbury 


“Forsooth genius and wisdom have ripened quickly in him, 
Earlier than the beard of manhood, and he knows both what to 
say and what to leave unsaid, 
And is powerful to stamp upon vice the black mark of condem- 
nation. = . 


For God, wishing to punish the evil heart of an untruthful 
people, permitted the pact to be broken which had been con- 
firmed by an oath between the nobles and the daughter of the 
Lion of Justice; and permitting new men to be exalted in favor, 
He allowed a man to reign over a kingdom which belonged 
to another,—a man furthermore who was a despiser of the 
good and the just, whose counsel was full of folly from the 
beginning, whose cause was founded in iniquity and faithless- 
ness, and who neglected all discipline to the point that while he 
seemed not so much to reign as to pillage and ruin both clergy 
and people, all men were provoked to all things, and the only 
measure of right was force. And so, invading the kingdom, 
he disinherited and excluded the ruler for whom, if there had 
been any faith and loyalty in the man, he should have been ready 
to lay down his life because of the merits of his predecessors 
and in consequence of his own oath. He strove to corrupt 
neighboring nations, contracting marriage alliances and treaties 
of friendship with their princes, to the end that the child who 
was still puling in the cradle, might not by the favor of God 
succeed in regaining his inheritance. Many plots were laid 
against innocence, but in all of them iniquity deceived itself. 
And that God is truthful was revealed in the fact that he did 
not find in his own subjects the loyalty and faith which he 
had not kept with God and his own earthly lord; for it was 
meted out to him with the same measure wherewith he him- 
self had meted out to others; as if all had learned from Ennius, 


“T have neither given, nor do I give, faith to the faithless.” ° 


1 Persius, Sat., iv, 4, 5, 13. 2 Cic., De Off. iti, 23, § 106. 


Poreraticus VI 18 235 


But while he did many things ill, and few things well, his 
worst act was that in contempt of God he laid hands on His 
anointed, not without the stigma of faithlessness and treachery 
_ which he acquired in the eyes of all by his wicked work, so that 
finally none felt secure in coming to his court. Nor did he, to 
his own ruin, lay hands upon bishops alone, although they were 
the first to suffer, but he also spread the snares of his treach- 
ery for all whom he suspected. The seizure of the bishops 
was but the beginning of his ill-deeds, and from that day 
_ the sword was never absent from his side, and each new 
act of the man was worse than those which had gone be- 
fore. 

_ What more shall I say? In his days, evils were multiplied 
in the land, so that if one were to sum them up he would surpass 
the narrative of Josephus. But the valor of the boy took its 
stand against them, and almost before he had attained the age 
of military service, he so broke the onset of the evil-doers that 


he might be said to be not inferior, and may he never be found 


inferior, to Theodosius the younger, whom historians have 
compared with Alexander. Nor was there delay: in the first 
_ years of his youth the still beardless boy took military duties 
upon him, and with countenance made bolder and arm made 
stronger by the divine aid, he shattered and broke the courage 
of the enemy. And straightway there rose up against him the 
kings of the Franks and the English with their combined 
strength, and a mightier enemy than either in Eustace, the 
brother-in-law of the king of the Franks, who was fighting his 
own fight, and striving not so much to preserve the crown for 
his father as to preserve his father’s crown for himself. And 
not only did our Neoptolemus manfully withstand them all, but 
in most instances mightily overcame them. Whereat Eustace, 
whom I have mentioned, smitten inwardly with pain of heart, 
quitted this mortal life, which was the best deed that he ever 
did. While good men rejoiced and congratulated the public 


236 John of Salisbury 


good fortune, because he threatened to become another scourge 
of his country, he was mourned by 


“Schools of dancing girls, and quacks, 
Beggars, mimes, jesters, and all their tribe.” * 


But that the glory of our duke may not be lessened by being 
thought due to this man’s death, the surrender of Crowmarsh, 
to the aid of which he and his father had come up in great force 
and with larger numbers, occurred while he was still alive, in 
arms, and supported by troops in plenty ; he was present, and saw 
it with his own eyes, and submitted. For our duke, forewarned 
by the counsel of a certain man, threw his army between the 
castle which the king had fortified and the king’s forces, which 
were much superior to his own in numbers. And that foreigners 
may not ascribe this victory to foreign troops, his army was 
composed principally of our own countrymen. To such ex- 
tremity was the man who had seized the kingdom reduced by his 
own faults that he was compelled to disinherit his son, and cede 
to our duke the succession to the kingship, and to commit the 
nobles and soldiery of the whole kingdom to a pledge of fidelity. 

I pass on to the siege of Chinon, because every one knows that 
there the English and the Normans, who were now united by 
many ties of confederacy, stood forth conspicuously as good 
and valiant soldiers in the capture of the castle. I say nought 
concerning Nantes and the whole country of lesser Brittany, 
although it is a great province, which would be in rebellion to 
this day were it not for fear of the might of the nation of the 
English. And either through the same fear, or from motives of 
affection and virtue (for his true motive is uncertain) the 
famous count of Blois and Chartres restored to the duchy of 
Normandy the castles which had been lost to it during the time 
of the duke’s minority. 


8 Hor,, Sato dap ule ied, 


Poraerai.cus VI 18 237 


It. would be a,long task were I to attempt to enumerate the 
famous deeds of so great a prince, which it is as impossible to 
describe in full as it is necessary for all to marvel at them. 
- Nor will I take upon me with my abilities a task whereat Or- 
 osius, Egesippus, and Trogus will find occasion to sweat if his 
_ future course shall be long and prosperous according to the 
measure of the grace which has been bestowed on him in the 
_ past. However, the period which marks the end of a man’s 
- youth is looked upon by some with suspicion, and may it prove 
_ that the fears of the good are groundless! * 


4 Just before the completion of the Policraticus, Henry I] to meet the 


charges of his expedition against Toulouse, levied upon the clergy im- 


4 posts of peculiar severity, which were later denounced by John of Salis- 
bury (see his Epist. no. cxlv; Round, in Eng. Hist, Rev., vi, 635 ff). 
_ This may be what John is here cryptically alluding to. 


CHAPTH Res 


OF THE HONOR TO BE SHOWN TO SOLDIERS, AND OF THE MODESTY 

TO BE ENJOINED UPON THEM, AND OF THOSE WHO HAVE 
HANDED DOWN THE ART OF WAR, AND OF CERTAIN OF THEIR 
GENERAL PRECEPTS. 


Why do I linger upon the praise of a nation which is ad- 
mitted by all to be praiseworthy by nature? Blessed Eugenius 
said it was equal to any task to which it wished to apply itself, 
and was to be preferred before all others unless its fickleness pre- 
vented. But, even as Hannibal said that the Romans could not 
be conquered except in their own country, so this people, while 
abroad, is invincible, but in its own home is subdued with too 
great ease. This the inhabitants of the British lands and of 
Italy perhaps have in common with other nations. But if they 
were correctly grounded by instruction and strengthened by 
practice and discipline, they would go forward with honor, would 
be regarded as defenders of their country, and would shine in 
an occupation which at least befits men ; for to be occupied with 
lasciviousness is not without the stigma of vice even in the 
female sex. 

For it is often found in wars that soldiers who are addicted 
to lasciviousness and splendid apparel avail not so much to bring 
victory to their fellow-citizens as to incite the foe to hope of 
booty. Wherefore Hannibal, when during his exile he so- 
journed with king Antiochus, bantered the king when the latter 
showed him his army bright with splendid gold and silver trap- 
pings, and paraded before him his chariots with their scythe- 
blades, and his elephants with towers upon their backs, and all 

238 


Meemicraticus VI rg 239 


his cavalry gleaming with jewelled bridles, housings and head- 
gear. The king, glorying in the contemplation of so great and 
ornate an army, turned to Hannibal: “Do you think,” he asked, 
“that all this is good enough for the Romans?” Whereupon 
the Carthaginian, making sport of the great array of cowardly 
and unwarlike soldiers and all their costly armor, answered, 
“T have no doubt of it, although the Romans are a notably 
covetous people.” A saying neat, brief, and sharp; for the 
king’s question was directed to the number of his troops and 


‘their comparative ability, but the answer had reference to the 


booty which they would afford. Finally, if Naso banishes even 
from the soldiery of his own art youths who are adorned like 
women, and bids them look for occupation elsewhere,’ who will 
suppose that they should be admitted to the robust service of 
arms? Craftsmen of each particular art bestow their chief care 
in ornamenting those of their belongings from which they know 
that they chiefly derive their honor; whence it is obvious that 
soldiers ought to make a finer appearance as respects their 
weapons than their clothing. 

Eneas is said to have transferred his jewels from his fingers 
to his sword, Virro to his drinking cups. It is also well known 
that the Machabeans gilded their shields, by the glint whereof 
they dispelled the courage of the gentiles ; yet it is a story worthy 
of belief that they were content with ordinary raiment. There 
is nought which less befits a soldier than too delicate attire and 
the exquisiteness of too luxurious clothing, unless perchance, 
spurning Mars, he has like Traso dedicated his service to Venus 
for the capture of the stronghold of Tais. On the other hand, 
slovenliness is equally to be avoided, and the mean, which moves 
along a golden path, is always to be insisted on. I wish that our 
countrymen would be persuaded that to train themselves properly 
is no sign of a want of valor, which so often comes to nought 
unless discipline is firmly established. 


1Ov., Ars Amat. ii, 233; Her. i, 75. 


240 John of Salisbury 


The art of war is said to have been handed down by the 
Lacedemonians; wherefore Hannibal, when he was about to 
march upon Italy, sought a Lacedemonian as an instructor in — 
arms. He who desires peace should prepare for war; he who 
desires victory should diligently train his soldiers ; he who hopes 
for favorable issues should fight by art and not by chance. No 
one dares provoke, nay no one even dares offend, one who he 
knows will prevail if the issue is brought to the test of fighting. 
The ancient annals tell that the Athenians enjoined upon their 
soldiers this one thing above all others: that the soldier who 
was not yet a veteran should habituate himself unceasingly to 
training and labor. For these two things are wont to keep the 
soldier healthy in camp, and make him victorious in war. The 
same authorities have handed down that the strength of an army 
consists in foot soldiers, and that a man is of little use for serv- 
ice who does not know how to fight unless he is on horse- 
back. But, of course, a man cannot be trained to advantage 
nor called upon to fight who does not receive his pay regularly. 
For if you withhold his subsistence, your soldier will refuse you 
obedience and loyalty. Hunger, as the saying is, fights like 
an enemy within, and has the power unaided to conquer the 
things which seem most secure. A hungry mob knows neither 
fear nor respect; but if they receive subsistence regularly, then 
they can be spurred on to do their duty at times by fear of pun- 
ishment and at others by hope of rewards. Training-experts 
and masters of military exercises should also always be employed 
and receive their pay regularly, and in a short time you will see 
the people brought again to that pitch of valor which prevailed 
among them when Julius Cesar, the greatest of the emperors, 


“Turned his back in terror on the Britons whom he had so boldly 
sought.” ? 


In addition military problems, though feigned ones, shotla 


2 Lucan, Phars. ii, 572. 


Pinte See 


Roemeraticus VI 19 241 


frequently be mooted in the camp, to the end that the soldier 


who is trained therein may, when actual need requires, know 


how to choose the best of a number of possible alternative 


courses. But if the problem is a real one of sober earnest, the 
soldiers should be left in ignorance thereof, because the military 
maxim is: “Discuss with many what ought to be done, but 
what you intend to do with only a few, and those the ones in 
whom you can place the most implicit trust ; or, best of all, with 
only yourself.” * For a thing rarely remains secret which comes 
to the knowledge of many. Also military precepts and the ex- 
ample of able soldiers should often be brought to the attention 
of the younger men to the end that by the ones they may be 


instructed in the science, by the others stimulated and encouraged 


to emulation and valor. But it is not my purpose here to write 
a treatise on the art of war, although it is an art of the greatest 
importance and one which is absolutely necessary, and, without 
which, to use the words of Plutarch, the power of the prince is 


lame. If any one wishes to learn this art, let him go to Cato the . 


Censor, let him read Cornelius Celsus, Julius Iginus and Vege- 
tius Renatus, from the last of whom I have borrowed much 
because he has treated the art of war with great elegance and 
thoroughness, although stinting examples; let the student, I 
say, read what such men deemed fit to write for posterity. 
Nevertheless in all arts advantage requires that precepts should 
always be accompanied by practice. For as Cicero says,* it is 
very easy to lay down precepts for everything, but it is a task 
of the utmost difficulty to put them successfully into practice in 
specific cases. He made this observation with reference to the 
art of speaking, in the precepts of eloquence which he wrote and 
addressed to Herennius, saying that the art was quite useless 
and ineffective without practice and training; but I think the 
statement may be extended to all the arts, in so far as they are 
not re-enforced by practice and training ; to the extent even, that 


8 Vegetius iii, 26. 4 Rhet. ad Herenn. i, 1, § 1. 


242 John of Salisbury 


if you dissociate the art and the practice, the practice is more 
useful without the art than the art which is not accompanied by 
practical mastery. For David with sling and stone, whereof he 
had the knowledge and practice, overcame Allophilus, and with 
his staff dared to draw nigh to a man who filled all with terror, 
and who had been a warrior from his youth up; and he cast 
aside the king’s coat of mail and armor, whereto he was not ac- 
customed, thinking that all things were but a hindrance to a 
soldier in the use whereof he was not grounded by practice. 
But as art is sterile without practice, so practice is imperfect 
which does not proceed in accordance with art. The beginning 
of all things is therefore in nature, against whose bent and, as 
the saying is, contrary to our natural genius, we can set about 
nothing correctly. Improvement comes from practice, perfec- 
tion from art, provided it is confirmed and established by cease- 
less training. It holds true of both the liberal and mechanic 
arts and of any other arts which may exist but whereof we have 
not yet heard mention, that art is sterile without use, and use is 
blundering without art. An army is therefore clumsy and of 
little avail without art, and without practice is negligent of its 
duty. Wherefore a man who wishes to be a soldier should 
first of all learn the art and become firmly grounded therein 
by training and use, so that when he has been selected and en- 
rolled by oath in the service, he may live usefully to the common- 
wealth and to himself, and not be, as Plutarch says, a maimed 
hand. For these are the last words which he uses in the In- 
struction of Trojan when he descends from the hands to con- 
sider the feet. Let us, therefore, follow him, and, as he him- 
self says, make as it were shoes for the feet, to the end that they 
may not be wounded by stumbling against a stone or other ob- 
stacle which so many chances put in their way. 


tar Pik Aex 


OF THOSE WHO ARE THE FEET OF THE COMMONWEALTH, AND OF 
THE CARE WHICH SHOULD BE BESTOWED THEREON. 


Those are called the feet who discharge the humbler offices, 
and by whose services the members of the whole commonwealth 
walk upon solid earth. Among these are to be counted the 
husbandmen, who always cleave to the soil, busied about their 
plough-lands or vineyards or pastures or flower-gardens. To 
these must be added the many species of cloth-making, and the 
mechanic arts, which work in wood, iron, bronze and the dif- 
ferent metals; also the menial occupations, and the manifold 
forms of getting a livelihood and sustaining life, or increasing 
household property, all of which, while they do not pertain to 
the authority of the governing power, are yet in the highest 
degree useful and profitable to the corporate whole of the com- 
monwealth. All these different occupations are so numerous 
that the commonwealth in the number of its feet exceeds not 
only the eight-footed crab but even the centipede, and because 
of their very multitude they cannot be enumerated; for while 
they are not infinite by nature, they are yet of so many different 
varieties that no writer on the subject of offices or duties has 
ever laid down particular precepts for each special variety. But 
it applies generally to each and all of them that in their ex- 
ercise they should not transgress the limits of the law, and 
should in all things observe constant reference to the public 
utility. For inferiors owe it to their superiors to provide them 
with service, just as the superiors in their turn owe it to their 
inferiors to provide them with all things needful for their pro- 

243 


244 John of Salisbury 


tection and succor. Therefore Plutarch says that that course 
is to be pursued in all things which is of advantage to the hum- 
bler classes, that is to say to the multitude; for small numbers 
always yield to great. Indeed the reason for the institution of 
magistrates was to the end that subjects might be protected from 
wrongs, and that the commonwealth itself might be “shod,” so 
to speak, by means of their services. For it is as it were “un- 
shod” when it is exposed to wrongs,—than which there can be 
no more disgraceful pass of affairs to those who fill the magis- 
tracies. For an afflicted people is a sign and proof of the gouti- 
ness, so to speak, of the prince. Then and then only will the 
health of the commonwealth be sound and flourishing when 
the higher members shield the lower, and the lower respond 
faithfully and fully in like measure to the just demands of their 
superiors, so that each and all are as it were members one of 
another by a sort of reciprocity, and each regards his own in- 
terest as best served by that which he knows to be most ad- 
vantageous for the others. 


hee le RX AT 


THAT THE COMMONWEALTH SHOULD BE ORDERED TO THE PAT- 
TERN OF NATURE, AND THAT ITS ORDERING SHOULD BE 
BORROWED FROM THE BEES. 


In different fashion both Cicero and Plato have written of the 
commonwealth, the one discussing it as it ought to be, the other 
as it was instituted and handed down by the men of earlier 
times. But both laid down the same formula for the existing or 
projected body politic, namely that its life should imitate na- 
ture, which we have so often called the best guide of life. 
Otherwise it will deserve to be called not only anarchical, but 
rather bestial and brutal. What Nature’s design is, is disclosed 
even by creatures which are devoid of reason. When Plutarch 
bids Trajan to borrow the pattern of civil life from the bees, he 
but follows Maro, most learned of poets, who sings “of the mar- 
vellous spectacle of tiny beings... .”* 

k xk k 

Run through all the authors who have written of the common- 
wealth, turn over all the histories of commonwealths, and you 
will find no truer or more appropriate description of life in civil 
society. And without doubt states would be happy indeed if 
they prescribed this form of life for themselves. 


1 Here follows a transcript of Vergil’s Fourth Georgic, lines 153-218, 
on the political constitution of the bees. 


245 


CHAPTER? 3 


THAT WITHOUT PRUDENCE AND WATCHFULNESS NO MAGISTRATE 
CAN REMAIN IN SAFETY AND VIGOR, AND THAT A COMMON- 
WEALTH DOES NOT FLOURISH WHOSE HEAD IS ENFEEBLED. 


Venerable communities likewise, if they follow in the foot- 
steps of the bees, will set forth on the journey toward life by 
the shortest and quickest road. Read in Maro of the founda- 
tion of Carthage, and from the comparison you will be led to ad- 
mire the happy beginnings of that fortunate city. For you will 
see that all labored together in common, and none idled, and that 
their queen supplied aid for the structure of the city to rise; and 
if she did not join with her own hands in the labor of the 
lower orders, yet with her eyes she superintended the work and 
gave to it the undivided attention of her mind. For without 
prudence and constant watchfulness not only will a common- 
wealth not progress, but even the humblest household will not 
rest on a secure foundation. Wherefore in praising Ulysses 
Homer teaches that prudence, which according to the poetic con- 
vention he symbolizes under the name of Minerva, was his con- 
stant companion. His imitator Maro, wishing to describe a 
man notable for feats of arms and for piety, and whom he 
deemed worthy to make the ancestor of the Romans, gave to 
him Acates as an associate in all his good undertakings, in 
token that prudent watchfulness is the surest way of advancing 
our undertakings, and to signify that the affairs of a prudent 
man often succeed because he is not forestalled by the snares of 
schemers, but advancing as it were along an invisible path, 

246 


moeeernitcus: Vil 22 247 


and not publishing what he purposes, he thus attains to the goal 
~ of his intention. The poetic figure is apt because neither the 
work of warfare nor of piety can be successfully practised with- 
out watchfulness and prudence. It is a trustworthy combina- 
tion when watchfulness is joined to prudence, because a keen 
mind is dulled by disuse, and on the other hand watchfulness is 
of no avail unless its exertions are founded on a rich vein of 
- natural ability: 


“Each demands the aid and friendly codperation of the other.” 1 


But however correct the commencement of any work, it will not 
go forward successfully unless prudence, or Minerva, attends 
its course throughout. Recall the lines of the Mantuan poet, 
who under cover of fables expresses all the truths of philosophy. 
Listen therefore to the diligence of the new citizens: 


“As bees in early summer ply their toil 

In sunshine amid flowery meadows, training the while 

The full-grown offspring of the hive; or store 

The liquid honey and distend the comb with nectar sweet; 

Or else receive the loads of incomers, or, formed in column, 
Drive the drones, an idle throng, forth from the hives; 

The work goes hotly forward and the fragrant honey smells strong 

of thyme”; ? 


in the same way the citizens are held to their different tasks, 
and so long as the duties of each individual are performed with 
an eye to the welfare of the whole, so long, that is, as justice is 
practised, the sweetness of honey pervades the allotted sphere 
of all. 

But the happiness of no body politic will be lasting unless 
the head is preserved in safety and vigor and looks out for 
the whole body. If you did not know this, you might learn 


1 Horace, Ars Poetica, 410-11. 2 Verg., Aen. i, 430-436. 


248 John of Salisbury 


from the example of Dido. For with what careless and ir- 
responsible levity did she admit Aeneas, what favor did she too 
quickly bestow on an unknown stranger, an exile, a fugitive, of 
whose plight and motives she was ignorant, and whose person 
was suspicious! With what curiosity did the ears of the chief 
men drink in the fabulous tales of a man who was striving to 
clear himself from blame, who was seeking his own glory and 
reaching out for something wherewith to captivate the minds of 
his hearers! And, so, smooth words led to the introduction of 
the man into the city, seductive flattery won for him the favor of 
hospitality, the captivated attentiveness of all spread an elaborate 
banquet, the banquet was followed by marvellous tales and ac- 
companied by the frivolity of a hunt and various other wanton 
delights. These things brought forth fruit in fornication, in 
the burning down of the city and the desolation of its citizens, 
and bequeathed to future generations the seeds of undying en- 
mity. This was the end of the effeminate rule of a woman, 
which, though it had a beginning and basis in virtue, could not 
find an issue into subsequent prosperity. It indicates lack of 
prudence to admit a man who, although the duty of hospitality 
forbade his exclusion, would none the less have been better al- 
lowed to enter as a stranger and not as a ruler. 


Prat RX X LTT 


THAT LEVITY OR RASH CARELESSNESS IS TO BE AVOIDED IN SPEAK- 
ING AND HEARING; AND THAT PLEASURE ENDS IN _ RE- 
PENTANCE. 


“Do all things,” it is written, “with counsel, and then thou 
shalt not repent what thou hast done.’ Moreover, as it is not 
seemly for a prince to utter levity, neither does it befit him to 
give ready ear thereto. For wisdom says, “A prince that gladly 
heareth lying words hath all his servants wicked.’ ? At feasts 
and story-tellings Venus mingles with all her might, and one 
who receives her first darts with gladness can scarce escape be- 
ing grievously wounded by those which follow. 


“First sight, then speech, then touch, then kisses, then the deed,” 3 


as they follow one another in succession, so of necessity they 
bring forth issue of pain and woe. For verily pleasure ends in 
repentance. If you do not believe me, believe at least Demos- 
tenes, who is said to have once made a witty reply to Lais.* 
This Lais was a woman of Corinth who because of the shape- 
liness and beauty of her body earned great sums of money; 
and the rich men of all Greece resorted to her in crowds, nor 
did she admit any unless he gave what she asked ; and she always 
asked an exceeding great sum. Hence originated that proverb 


1Eccli. xxxii, 24. 2 Prov. Xxix, 12. 
3 Old gloss on Dig. xlviii, 5, 23; cf. Donat., Comm. ad Ter. Eun. 
iv, 2, 12; see Webb, ii, 64. 
4 Gell. i, 8. 
249 


250 John of Salisbury 


which was in frequent use among the Greeks: “It is idle to go 
to Corinth to visit Lais unless you are able and willing to pay the 
price.” The famous Demostenes went to her secretly and 
asked her to put herself at his disposal. But Lais demanded a 
sum which in our money would amount to ten thousand 
denarii, or the equivalent of half a greater talent, which in our 
money contains twenty thousand denarii. Demostenes, stunned 
at such impertinence in the woman and at the greatness of her 
demand, turned away as if in fear and said as he left her, oa 
do not buy my repentance at so great a price.” Do you wish 
anything more to the point? You know who said that 


“This is a quality of all pleasure: 

It drives its votaries with fierce goads, 
And like bees on the wing 

It flies to where it finds sweet honey, 
And with too tenacious bite 

Pierces the heart at which it strikes.” ° 


The beginnings of desire are sweet beyond honey and the honey- 
comb; but its end is more bitter than any wormwood. For what 
is the end of idle tale-telling, feasting, and sated lust but the 
blazing pyre which scatters the burning brands of desolation 
over all the citizens? 


5 Boeth., Consol. Phil. iii, Metr. vii. 


Sarre Re XX TV 


THAT THE VICES OF RULERS ARE TO BE ENDURED BECAUSE THEY 
EMBODY THE HOPE OF THE PUBLIC WELL-BEING, AND BE- 
CAUSE THEY ARE CHARGED WITH THE DISPOSAL OF THE 
MEANS OF PUBLIC HEALTH, EVEN AS THE STOMACH IN THE 
BODY NATURAL DISPENSES NOURISHMENT; AND THIS ON 
THE AUTHORITY OF THE LORD ADRIAN. 


“Go to the ant, thou sluggard,” says Salomon, “that thou 
mayest get prudence.” + But the philosopher sends the political 
man to the bees, that from them he may learn his duty: and 
had the Carthaginians followed his advice, they would by no 
means have indulged their luxury, and would still be rejoicing 
in the enduring soundness of their nation. But because vice 
took root in the rulership of a woman, the citizens became ef- 
feminate and bowed their necks to manly valor. But, to con- 
tinue, even if the ruler is more remiss than he should be in the 
virtues which pertdin to his duty, he is nevertheless to be cher- 
ished; and as bees raise their king aloft upon their shoulders, so 
should subjects, whom we have already called the feet and mem- 
bers, as long as his vices are not absolutely ruinous, show him 
obedience in every way. For although he labors under the dis- 
advantage of vices, yet he is to be borne with as one in whom 
stands the hope of safety and well-being for the provincials. 


“While the king is safe, all remain of one mind; 
When he is lost, the bond of mutual loyalty is broken.” * 


1 Prov. vi, 6. 2Verg., Georg. iv, 212-13: 
251 


252 John of Salisbury 


The Illyricans and Tracians, hardened by daily training, struck 
terror by the glory of their warlike renown into their neighbors 
the Macedonians. These, after they had been defeated in 
battle, brought their little king, who was the son of their king 
who was dead, in a cradle, and set him behind their line of 
battle, and then renewed the conflict with the greater fierceness, 
as if the reason for their previous defeat had been that when 
they fought, they had lacked the leadership of their king; but 
now would be victorious, because from superstition or from 
loyalty they had caught the will to conquer. For pity for the 
infant held them firm, and the thought that if they should be 
vanquished they would make a captive of their king. And 
therefore when the battle was joined they routed the Illyricans 
with great slaughter, thus showing to their foes that in the 
former war it had been a king and not valor which the Macedo- 
nians lacked. Of how great value, therefore, should be a king 
already mature in years and dignity, if such store is set upon one 
as yet unripe in either? Even if it is a question of dealing with 
a rough fierce people, still the authority of rank and the utility 
of the office should soften the minds of the provincials. 

I remember that I once journeyed to Apulia to visit the pontiff, 
Lord Adrian the Fourth, who had admitted me to his closest 
friendship, and I sojourned with him at Beneventum for almost 
three months. We often conversed in the way of friends con- 
cerning many things, and he asked me confidentially and 
earnestly how men felt concerning himself and the Roman 
Church. I was entirely frank with him, and explained without 
reserve the abuses which I had heard of in the different prov- 
inces. For it-was said by many that the Roman Church, which 
is the mother of all the churches, shows herself to be not so 
much a mother to the rest as a very stepmother. Scribes and 
Pharisees sit in her seats, and place on the shoulders of men un- 
bearable burdens which they themselves do not deign to touch 
with even the tip of their finger. They lord it over the clergy 


, 


Prareraticus VI .24 253 


instead of making their own lives an example to lead the flock 
to life by the straight and narrow path; they pile up costly fur- 
niture, they load their tables with gold and silver, sparing them- 
selves overmuch even out of their own avarice. A poor man 1s 
seldom or never admitted to their number, and then rather as a 
result of his own vainglorious ambition than for the love of 


Christ. They oppress the churches with extortion, stir up strife, 


bring the clergy and people into conflict, never take compassion 
on the sufferings and misery of the afflicted, rejoice in the 
spoils of churches, and count all gain as godliness. They give 
judgment not for the truth but for money. For money you can 
get anything done today, and without waiting; but you will not 
get it done even tomorrow if you do not pay a price. Too often 
they commit injury, and imitate the demons in thinking that 
they are doing good when they merely refrain from doing evil ; 
except a few of them who fulfil the name and duties of a shep- 


herd. Even the Roman pontiff himself is a grievous and almost 


intolerable burden to all; the complaint is everywhere made that 
while the churches which were built by the devotion of the 
fathers are falling into ruin and collapsing, he has built for him- 
self palaces, and walks abroad not merely in purple but in gold. 
The palaces of priests dazzle the eye, and meanwhile in their 
hands the Church of Christ is defiled. They rend apart the 
spoils of the provinces as if they strove to refill the treasuries of 
Cresus. But the Most High deals justly with them, for they 
are delivered into the hands of others, and often the vilest of 
men, to be plundered in their own turn. And while they thus 
wander in the wilderness, the scourge of God will, I think, never 
fail to scourge them. Truly the mouth of God has promised 
that by what judgment they have judged, they shall themselves 
be judged, and that with their own good measure it shall be 
meted out to them again. The Ancient of Days cannot lie. 
“These are the things, father, which the people are saying,” I 
told him, “since you wish me to bring their opinions to your 


254 John of Satltusbury 


knowledge.” “And you, yourself,’ he asked, “what do you 
think?” “There are difficulties,’ I answered, “about anything 
that I might say. I fear that I shall be branded with the re- 
proach of falsehood or flattery if I venture by myself alone to 
contradict the people; but on the other hand, if I do not, then 
I fear that I shall be charged with lese majesté, and, like one 
who has set his mouth against Heaven, shall seem to deserve a 
cross. Nevertheless, since Guido Dens, the cardinal presbyter 
of St. Potentiana, adds his testimony to that of the people, I 
shall not presume so far as to contradict him. For he asserts 
that in the Roman Church there inheres a certain root of duplic- 
ity and stimulant of avarice which is the source and root of all 
evils. Nor did he speak this in a corner, but, while all his 
brethren sat round about and Holy Eugenius was presiding, he 
made this public charge when at Florence he blazed out gratui- 
tously against my own innocence. But one thing I will boldly 
affirm with my conscience as my witness, and this is that I have 
never anywhere seen more honest clerics than in the Roman 
church, or ones who hold avarice in greater abhorrence. Who 
can help admiring Bernard of Redon, cardinal deacon of Saints 
Cosmas and Damian, for his self-restraint and utter scorn of 
lucre? The man is not born from whom he accepted a gift, but 
what was offered for a pure and honest reason by the fellowship 
of his brethren he was sometimes persuaded to accept. Who 
does not marvel at the bishop of Praeneste, who, fearing the 
scruple of conscience, abstained even from sharing in the com- 
mon goods? Of many others so great is the modesty, so great 
the austerity, that they will be found not inferior to Fabricius, 
whom they excel in all respects for the added reason that they 
know the way of salvation. But since you urge and press and 
command me, and since it is certain that it is not lawful to lie 
to the Holy Spirit, I admit that what you enjoin must be done, 
although not all of you are to be imitated in all your works. 
For whoever dissents from the teaching of you of the Roman 


Preetoraticus Vl 24 255 


Church is either a heretic or schismatic. But, thanks to the 
favor of God, there are some who do not imitate the works of 
all of you. For the contamination of a few sullies the pure 
with a stain, and brings infamy upon the Church Universal; and 
in my opinion the reason why they die so fast is to prevent their 
corrupting the entire Church. But sometimes the good are 
likewise snatched away, to the end that they may not be infected 
with wickedness and turned to evil, and because corrupt Rome 
is found unworthy of them in the sight of God. Do you, there- 
fore, since it is a part of the duty of your office, seek out and 
bring in to you men who are humble and despisers of vainglory 
and money. But I fear lest if you go on asking what you wish, 
you will hear from an imprudent friend things which you do not 
wish. What is it, father, to criticize the life of others and not 
probe searchingly into your own? All men applaud you, you 
are called father and lord of all, and upon your head is poured 
all the oil of the sinner.’ If, therefore, you are father, why do 
you extort gifts and payments from your children? If you are 
lord why do you not strike terror into.your Romans, and re- 
pressing their insolence, call them back to the way of loyalty? 
But you may answer that you wish to preserve the city to the 
Church by means of the gifts which you receive. Did Silvester 
originally acquire it by means of gifts? [ather, you are wan- 
dering in the trackless wilderness and have strayed from the 
true way. It must be preserved by means of the same gifts by 
which it was acquired. What you received without a price, see 
that you bestow without a price. Justice is the queen of the 
virtues and blushes to be bartered for a price. If she is to be 
gracious, she must be gratuitous. It is vain to seek to prostitute 
for a price her who cannot be corrupted; for she is pure and 
ever incorrupt. While you oppress others, you will yourself 
be even more grievously oppressed.” 


*Ps, cxl, 5. 


256 John of S atusiie 


The pontiff laughed and congratulated me upon having spoken 
with such frankness, enjoining me as often as anything un- 
favorable concerning him came to my ears, to inform him 
thereof without delay. And, after urging many things in his 
favor as well as much against himself by way of reply, he finally 
put before me an apology after this kind: Once upon a time 
all the members of the body conspired together against the 
stomach, as against that which by its greediness devoured ut- 
terly the labors of all the rest. The eye is never sated with see- 
ing, the ear with hearing, the hands go on laboring, the feet 
become callous from walking, and the tongue itself alternates 
advantageously between speech and silence. In fine, all the 
members provide watchfully for the common advantage of all; 
and in the midst of such care and toil on the part of all, only 
the stomach is idle, yet it alone devours and consumes all the 
fruits of their manifold labors. What remains to be said? 
They swore to abstain from work and to starve that idle public 
enemy. Thus passed one day; that which followed was more 
irksome. The third was so fatal that almost all commenced to 
be faint. Then, under the pressure of necessity, the brothers 
again gathered together to take action concerning their own 
welfare and the state of the public enemy. When all were 
present, the eyes were found to be dim, the foot failed to sustain 
the weight of the body, the arms were numb, and the tongue 
itself, cleaving to the feeble palate, did not make bold to state 
the common cause. Accordingly all took refuge in the counsel 
of the heart and after deliberation there, it became plain that 
these ills were all due to that which had before been denounced 
as the public enemy. Because the tribute which they paid it was 
cut off, like a public rationer it withdrew the sustenance of all. 
And since no one can perform military service without wages, 
when the wages are no longer forthcoming the soldier becomes 
faint and weak. Nor could the blame be cast back upon the 
rationer, since what he had not received he could not pay out 


mercer oticus Vil 24 257 


to others. Far more beneficial would it be that he should be sup- 
' plied with somewhat to distribute than that through his starva- 
tion all the other members should go hungry. And so it was 
done; persuaded by reason, they filled the stomach, the members 
were revived, and the peace of all. was restored. And so the’ 
stomach was acquitted, which, although it is voracious and 
greedy of that which does not belong to it, yet seeks not for it- 
self but for the others, who cannot be nourished if it is 
empty. “And so it is, brother,” he said, “if you will but ob- 
serve closely, in the body of the commonwealth, wherein, though 
the magistrates are most grasping, yet they accumulate not so 
much for themselves as for others. For if they are starved, 
there is nought to be distributed among the members. For the 
stomach in the body and the prince in the commonwealth per- 
form the same office, according to the well-known passage of 
Quintus Serenus: 


‘Those who contend that the stomach is king of the whole body, 
Seem to have truth and reason with them in their claim; 

For upon its soundness depends the strength of all the members 
And, contrariwise, all are enfeebled if it be sick; 

Nay rather, if care is not taken, it is said to harm 

The brain and pervert the senses from their soundness.’ ¢ 


Do not therefore seek to measure our oppressiveness or that of 
temporal princes, but attend rather to the common utility of 
an.” 


4Q. Serenus, Lib. Medecin., Il. 300-305. 


CHAPTERS 


OF THE COHESION AND MUTUAL DEPENDENCE OF THE HEAD AND 
MEMBERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH ; AND THAT THE PRINCE 
IS AS IT WERE THE LIKENESS OF DEITY; AND OF THE CRIME 
OF LESE MAJESTE, AND OF THE OBLIGATIONS OF FEALTY. 


For myself, I am satisfied and persuaded that loyal shoulders 
should uphold the power of the ruler; and not only do I submit 
to his power patiently, but with pleasure, so long as it is exercised 
in subjection to God and follows His ordinances. But on the 
other hand if it resists and opposes the divine commandments, 
and wishes to make me share in its war against God; then with 
unrestrained voice I answer back that God must be preferred 
before any man on earth. Therefore inferiors should cleave 
and cohere to their superiors, and all the limbs should be in 
subjection to the head; but always and only. on condition that 
religion is kept inviolate. We read that Socrates framed a 
polity for a commonwealth and laid down precepts therefor 
which are said to flow from the purity of wisdom as from a 
natural fountain. And this one thing he emphasized above all 
else, that the more humble elements of the commonwealth should 
receive proportionately greater care and attention from those 
in higher station as part of their public duty. Read diligently 
again the “Instruction of Trajan,’ of which mention has been 
made above, and you will find these things discussed there at 
large. 

Let it suffice at present to have said so much concerning the 
unity of head and members, adding only what we have already 

258 


Momperoticus VI 25 259 


premised, namely that an injury to the head, as we have said 
above, is brought home to all the members, and that a wound 
unjustly inflicted on any member tends to the injury of the 
head. Furthermore whatsoever is attempted foully and with 
malice against the head, or corporate community, of the mem- 
bers, is a crime of the greatest gravity and nearest to sacrilege ; 
for as the latter is an attempt against God, so the former is an 
attack upon the prince, who is admitted to be as it were the like- 
ness of deity upon earth. And therefore it is called the crime 
of lése majesté, for the reason that it is aimed against the like- 
ness of Him who alone, as the famous Count Robert of Lei- 
cester, a man who modestly discharged the office of proconsul in 
the British lands, was wont to say, wears the truth of true and 
native majesty,—to wit if any one undertakes aught against the 
security of the prince or of the people, either directly or through 
another. . In the punishment of such a man, all are treated as of 
equal rank and in like case; and generally it comes to pass that 
such men, with whom none have any commerce in life, are not 
even released by the kindness of death; but if they are con- 
victed, then after death their memory is condemned and their 
goods are forfeited by their heirs. For where the wickedness 
of an offender lies as here in having taken most wicked counsel, 
for such an offence he is punished as it were in mind. And 
when once a man has committed such a crime, it is settled that 
he can neither legally alienate nor manumit, nor can his debtor 
lawfully discharge his debt to him. Because of the greatness 
of this crime, even infamous persons who in other cases do 
not have the right of bringing accusations are here permitted to 
do so without any impediment, as well as soldiers, who may 
not maintain other actions. For those who are on guard to de- 
fend the peace are all the more properly admitted to bring this 
charge. Also slaves may lawfully inform against their masters 


1 Justin., Cod., ix, 8, 4-6. 


260 John of S alustiary 


and freedmen against their patrons. Nevertheless this accusa- 
tion is not to be dealt with by judges as an opportunity for 
displaying their subservience to the prince’s majesty, but solely 
on the basis of the truth. The person of the accused must be 
looked to, as to whether he could have done the act, and whether 
he actually did it, or whether he devised it, and whether, before 
he presumed so far, he was of sane mind. Nor ought a mere 
slip of the tongue to be drawn readily on to punishment; for 
although the foolhardy are deserving of punishment, still even 
such men should be spared if their offence is not one which flows 
directly from the letter of the law or which must be punished in 
accordance with the analogy of the law.?, Women also are heard 
on a question of lése majesté; for the conspiracy of Sergius 
Cathelina was disclosed by a woman, a certain Julia, who sup- 
plied Marcus Tully with information in proceeding against 
him.* Also, if necessity or utility recommends, torture is to be 
applied to those who are thought to be guilty of this crime, as 
well as to those by whose counsel and instigation they appear to 
have undertaken the alleged criminal act, so that the prescribed 
penalty may be brought home to all who were concerned or had 
knowledge therein.‘ 

The acts are many which constitute the crime of lése majesté, 
as for example if one conceives the death of the prince or magis- 
trates, or has borne arms against his country, or, forsaking his 
prince, has deserted in a public war, or has incited or solicited 
the people to rebel against the commonwealth; or if by the act 
or criminal intent of any, the enemies of the people and common- 
wealth are aided with supplies, armor, weapons, money, or any 
thing else whatsoever, or if, from being friends, they are turned 
into enemies of the commonwealth; or if by the criminal intent 
or act of any, it comes to pass that pledges or money are given 
against the commonwealth, or the people of a foreign country are 


2 Dig. xvii, 4, .7. 3 Dig. xviii, 4, 8. 4 Justin., Cod., ix, 8, 4-6. 


Porreraticus: Vl 25 261 


perverted from their obedience to the commonwealth; likewise 
he commits the crime who effects the escape of one who after 
confessing his guilt in court has on this account been thrown into 
chains; and many other acts of this nature, which it would be 
too long or impossible to enumerate.’ 

But because the formula of fidelity or fealty ought herein 
above all else to be kept, there is language in the oath from 
which we can most conveniently learn a few of the acts which 
are not permitted. For a thing which is the opposite of some- 
thing that is necessary is impossible, and by the same process 
of reasoning a thing which ought to be done is contradicted only 
by something that is not permitted. The formula of fealty, 
then, exacts the things which are inserted therein as being the 
necessary elements of loyalty, and expresses the latter by the 
words “sound,” “safe,” “honorable,” “advantageous,” “easy,” 
“possible.” ® If therefore, we are bound by fealty to anyone, 
we must not harm his soundness of body, or take from him the 
military resources upon which his safety depends, or presume 
to commit any act whereby his honor or advantage is diminished ; 
neither is it lawful that that which is easy for him should be 
made difficult, or that which is possible impossible. Besides, 
one who holds a benefice from him whose liege man he is, owes 
to him aid and counsel in his undertakings; from which fact it 
is clearer than the sun how much is owed to the God of all, if so 
much is owed even to those to whom we are bound only by 
fealty. 

As to the punishment of this crime, it is so severe that I can- 
not easily suppose that anything more severe could be devised 


99 66 


5 Dig. xlvill, 4, 1-4. 

6 These six words are used to describe the elements of feudal obliga- 
tion in the oldest extant document which informs us of the nature of 
such obligation—a letter of Fulbert of Chartres to the Duke of 
Aquitaine, belonging to the first part of the eleventh century. The 
letter is translated in J. H. Robinson, “Readings in European History,” 
vol. i, p. 184. See Luchaire, “Manuel des Institutions,” p, 185. 


262 John of Salastury 


even by those lords of the isles who too frequently put on the 
tyrant. And lest the severity of the penalty be thought to 
have had its origin in the cruelty of tyrants, I will set forth 
in part the language of the dispassionate law itself. It says: 
“Whoever with soldiers or private men or barbarians has entered 
into any wicked conspiracy, or has taken or given any guilty 
oath, or has conceived the death (for the laws desire that the 
will to commit a crime shall be punished with the same severity 
as the completed act) of the illustrious men who participate in 
our counsels or cabinet, or of any of the senators (for they too 
are a part of our body), or finally of any who are in our service 
as soldiers, let such a man be put to the sword, as guilty of a 
crime against our majesty and let all his goods be forfeited to 
our fisc. And let his sons, whose life we spare by the special 
grace of our imperial clemency,—for rightly they should perish 
by the same punishment as their fathers, to the end that fear 
may be inspired by the warning example of a crime which is 
hereditary,—let his sons be held excluded from the inheritance 
and succession of their mother and grandfather and of all their 
other relatives as well, and let them be permitted to take nothing 
by will from strangers. Let them forever be propertyless and 
paupers, and let their father’s infamy attend them always. Let 
them never attain to any honors nor be permitted to take any 
oath. Finally let them be forever in such poverty and squalor 
that death will be a comfort to them and life a torture. And we 
command also that whoever shall be so rash as to intercede with 
us in their favor shall be infamous and without pardon. As to 
the daughters of such criminals, however numerous they may 
be, our will is that they shall receive only the Falcidian propor- 
tion of the goods of their mother, whether she dies testate or 
intestate, to the end that they may rather have the moderate 
means of a young girl than the full portion and rights of an 
heir. For with regard to them greater mildness ought to be 
shown than to the sons, since we trust that because of the weak- 


momoroticus: VI 2-5 263 


ness of their sex they will be less audacious. And as to the 
wives of the aforesaid, let them recover their dower, and then, 
if they are in the position that what they have received from 
their husbands by title of gift must revert to their children 
at the termination of their own life-estate, let them know 
that they must leave to our fisc all the property which was thus 
lawfully owing to their children; and from it let only the Fal- 
cidian proportion be assigned to the daughters, but nothing at 
all to the sons. We decree that the provisions concerning the 
aforesaid and their children shall also apply to all their ac- 
complices, abettors, and servants, and to the children of all the 
latter with like severity. With reason, however, if any of these 
at the outset and commencement of a conspiracy is inspired by 
the desire of true praise to give information of the same, he shall 
receive from us reward and honor. But one who has actually 
participated in a conspiracy, and then while its secret counsels 
are still undisclosed reveals them, shall be considered as merit- 
ing only pardon and indulgence.” ‘ 


*Justin., Cod., ix, 8, 5. 


CHAPTER 


THAT FAULTS ARE TO BE EITHER TOLERATED OR REMOVED, 
AND THAT THEY ARE TO BE DISTINGUISHED FROM FLAGRANT 
OUTRAGES : AND CERTAIN GENERAL OBSERVATIONS CONCERN- 
ING THE OFFICE OF A PRINCE: AND A BRIEF EPILOGUE AS 
TO HOW GREAT IS THE REVERENCE TO BE SHOWN TO HIM. 


I have been at pains to insert in the present work these few 
things culled out of many from the pure vein of the law to the 
end that even men who are ignorant of the law may from the 
sight of such provisions withhold themselves at a greater dis- 
tance from the crime of lése majesté, and that no one may 
accuse me falsely of having presumed in aught against the au- 
thority of the prince. It is a common saying that it is not easy 
to remove the pith from the cork-tree without hurting the nails; 
but much more just and speedy is the hurt of him who seeks to 
sever the obedience of the members from the head! May the 
excellence of the head ever flourish because therein consists the 
safety of the whole body. 

Varro, in the satire which is called Menipean and which is 
written concerning the duties of matrimony, says:* “The fault 
of a wife must be either tolerated or removed. He who removes 
her fault makes a pleasanter spouse; he who tolerates it, makes 
himself a better man.” In the same way princes should tolerate 
or remove the faults of their subjects ; for the bond which unites 
them is equal to or closer than conjugal affection. The words 
of Varro, “tolerate” and “remove,” are well chosen. For he 


1 Gellius i, 17, 4. 
264 


Potrcraticus VI 26 265 


seems to have used the word “remove” in the sense of “to cor- 
rect.’ It is clear that his opinion was that what cannot be 
removed should be tolerated. His faithful interpreter adds that 
“fault” is to be understood as meaning that which can honorably 
be tolerated and without hurt to religion. For “faults’’ are 
less grave than flagrant outrages; and there are some things 
which it is not permissible to tolerate or which cannot be toler- 
ated with good conscience. By reason of fornication spouse 
properly separates from spouse, and he generally makes himself 
a protector of immorality who conceals the crime of his wife. 
Hence perhaps the saying: “A man who retains an adulterous 
wife is both foolish and wicked.” These things are true of 
both bodily and spiritual adultery, so far as the two are com- 
parable, although the spiritual is the worse and the more zeal- 
ously to be avoided. 

Similarly in the union of the members, the rule of Varro about 
tolerating or removing faults is to be admitted as holding good. 
For no one doubts that the members ought to be healed, whether 
the cure proceeds with the lenitive of oil or with the sharp 
remedy of wine which the Samaritan poured into the wound. 
‘Furthermore that they should be removed is clear from the fact 
that it is written, “If thine eye or thy foot offend, pluck it out 
and cast it from thee.” * This precept I think should be followed 
by the prince in the case of all the members, so that not only 
should they be plucked out, cut off, and cast away if they become 
an offence to the faith or to the public safety, but should be 
utterly consumed and destroyed to the end that by the extermina- 
tion of one, the soundness of all may be procured. For what, I 
ask, ought a man to spare when he is instructed to do violence 
even to his own eyes? Surely neither ear, nor tongue, nor any 
other thing which exists in the body of the commonwealth is 
immune if it rises up against the soul for whose sake even the 


2Grat., Decret., I., xxxii, q. I, c. 1, ed. Friedberg, 1., p. 1115. 
3 Matt. xviii, 9. 


266 John of Salis tiyy 


eyes themselves are plucked out. But when abuse and wicked- 
ness are directed against God Himself, or the Church is trampled 
under foot, then the safety of the entire soul is in peril. And 
this is so foreign to the duty of a prince that, as often as such 
things come to pass in a commonwealth, the prince must be 
thought either not to perceive them, or else to be asleep, or in an 
inn upon a distant journey. . 

The sun rises high over all things that he may oversee all and 
judge all; I believe the prince to be another sun. Truly he does 
rightly when he 


“drives the drones, an idle swarm, forth from the hive,” 4 


for they rob the hive and drink up the sweetness or carry it 
away. He does rightly when he raises aloft the roof-tree of 
the Church, when he extends abroad the worship of religion, 
when he abases the proud and exalts the humble, when he is 
generous to the needy, more sparing toward the wealthy, when 
he metes out reward to virtue and punishment to vice with a 
just and equal balance, when justice walks ever before him, and 
sets his steps in the way of prudence and the other virtues. 


“Lo, this is the path to the skies; not by piling Ossa on Olippus, 
Or causing the summit of Pelion to touch the topmost stars.” 5 


Wisdom says; “Appear not in glory before the king and 
stand not in the place of the great”; and this utterance of the 
wise man has reference to the fact that whoever does not hum- 
ble himself before the face of the prince, covering his merits 
with confusion, deserves to be despoiled of the glory which he 
has usurped; since the prince is the dispenser of honor, and so 
long as he rightly administers his princely power, in his hands 
is the perpetual distribution of rewards. He rightly admin- 


4Verg., Georg. iv, 168; Aen. i, 435. 5® Ov., Fast i, 307-8. 


Potmeraticus VI 26 267 


isters his power when under his rule the people are made glad 
and the breadth of the whole land rejoices in the reign of equity. 
Perpetual, I say, because it is written that “the king that judgeth 
the poor in truth, his throne shall be established forever.” ° 
Who then would withdraw honor from him who he learns is 
honored by God with eternal reward? Even to presume aught 
against the inanimate statue of the prince at any time whatever 
is to commit the crime of lése majesté and merits punishment, as 
the ancients thought, by the most cruel death.’ Who then can 
with presumptuous malice offend against the likeness of God, 
which is the prince, and still go unpunished? Most full of good 
counsel is therefore that saying of the wise man: “In thy 
thought do not disparage the king, and in the secrecy of thy 
chamber speak not evil of the rich man, for the birds of the 
air will carry thy voice and he that hath wings will publish thy 
opinion.” * Will aught then be permitted in deed or word when 
even thought itself and the secrecy of the chamber and the 
opinion of the heart is debarred from attempting or conceiv- 
ing aught against the prince? 


6 Prov. xxix, 14. 7 Dig. xviii, 4, 6. S Eccles. ox, 20: 


CHA PT Ras 


THAT THE TRIBE OF GNATO RUIN ALL THINGS, NOR SUFFER THE 
TRUTH TO BE SPOKEN: AND THAT THEIR SKINS SHOULD 
BE STRIPPED FROM THEM AS WAS DONE TO MARSIAS, IF 
RICH MEN WOULD BE WISE: AND THAT GOD HIMSELF PUN- 
ISHES THE PERSECUTORS OF THE POOR. 


However, if we credit Gnato,t whoever does not smile upon 
the rich even when they do evil, and does not applaud their worst 
acts, must be thought either to envy their good fortune or else 
to be wanting in deference to their office; for in the eyes of the 
tribe of Gnato the uttering of the truth is the crime of lese 
majesté. Howsoever, begging leave, I insert one plea on be- 
half of the members and pray the head to give ear thereto: nor 
is it | who do this, but the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Truth, 
the Holy Spirit; and this plea, namely that “He that closeth his 
ear to the cry of the poor, shall himself cry out and shall not 
be heard.” * He shall not be heard by his own head, for his 
head is Christ, and God is in Christ, and God is Christ, who 
delivereth the poor man from the mighty, and shattereth all 
the proud kingdoms of the world; who is a stone chipped off 
from the mountain without hands, snatching the helpless from 
the hand of them that are stronger than he, and the poor man 
and the needy man from them that tear his limbs asunder. If, 
therefore, any man, whosoever he is, rises up against those 
whose protector, nay rather whose father, is Christ, there is no 
doubt that such a man provokes against himself the stone at 


1 The parasite in the “Eunuch”’ of Terence. 2\ Prove xxi 13 
268 


Poprernat¢cus. Vl.27 269 


whose fall was shattered the statue which Nabugodonosor saw, 
and which symbolized the succession of kingdoms of differing 
degrees of splendor and strength. Nor does it avail while 
torturing the poor to multiply votive offerings and, as if God 
could be corrupted by bribes, to tempt Him by alms rather bar- 
tered than truly issuing from repentance, since Wisdom bears 
witness that it is ruin to a man to devour the saints and after- 
wards to traffic in offerings;* and in another passage, ‘The 
offerings of the ungodly are an abomination to the Lord, be- 
cause they are offered out of wickedness” ; * and again “He that 
offereth a sacrifice from the plunder of the poor is as one that 
offereth up a child as a sacrifice to its own father.” ° Nor 
let me be held to account if the blood of their brothers is re- 
quired at their hands, or if they reap the rewards of their works 
in the same measure which they themselves have applied; since 
not I but the Most High speaks and does all these things. For 
my own part I think that service and obedience should be ren- 
dered in all humility and reverence not only to the good and the 
gentle, but also to the froward,° and that God should be ven- 
erated in the worship of the power which is ordained by Him. 
Wherefore the Hebrews are enjoined to pray for the Baby- 
lonians, because in the peace of princes is the repose of peoples ; 
and Christ himself commanded that the faithful should pay 
tribute unto Cesar. But all things are turned to destruction by 
Gnato, in whose judgment to declare the truth is nothing less 
than the crime of lése majesté; so that he is plainly worthy to 
have his hide stripped from him by a nursling of Apollo, that is 
to say a votary of wisdom, as was done to Marsias, who strove 


“To excel Phebus in song,” * 


and when vanquished was despoiled of nature’s raiment. For 
he is the model and pattern of the tribe of flatterers, who play 


8 Prov. xx, 25, misquoted. 4 Prov. xi, 27. 
5 Eecli. xxxiv, 24. OL Petry tt. 7Verg., Ecl.-v, 9. 


270 John of Salisbury 


the part of the unhappy satyr by striving not so much to excel 
as to blind their divinities—I mean men with fortunes—by 
empty praises like unto wind-instruments. For in wickedness 
they ever display the vigor of youth, never becoming mature 
and grave in sense, but remaining fickle, wanton, talkative, and 
shaken by every breath more quickly than a reed. 


—_—— oe 


Cine TER 2X VT! 


ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE SOCRATICS AS TO WHEN A MAN IS 
COMMENDED DESERVEDLY, AND WHEN PRAISE IS COUNTER- 
FEIT. 


And though these pipers of vanity always persist in the trip- 
ping up of others, they seldom or never are caught praising 
a man for that which is truly his own. For a man is most 
greatly and genuinely commended when the tongue of homage 
addresses itself to the praise of his wisdom. For all things 
else are borrowed; but it belongs to the man himself that he is 
wise. Belongs to him, I say, not in the sense that it is brought 
about by his own effort, but that it proceedeth from One from 
whom cometh as a gift whatever is meritorious and praiseworthy 
in man. And this is not my own language, but a saying which 
the company of all wise men has united to render famous, and 
which may easily be found in the book entitled “Of the God of 
Socrates”; the words whereof, because of the appropriateness of 
their sense and the aptness and beauty of the phrasing, I have 
been at pains to insert below to the end that confidence may the 
more readily be placed in what is here written because it is ad- 
mitted to have flowed from the purest fountain of all an- 
tiquity. It is Apuleius, then, who says: “T marvel at nought 
so much as that while all desire to lead the best life, and while 
they know that life is lived not otherwise than with the mind, 
and that it is impossible to live the best life except by cultivat- 
ing the mind, still the fact is that men do not cultivate their 
minds. If you wish to see distinctly, you must care for the 

27% 


272 John of Saliuspaery 


eyes, wherewith men see; if you wish to run swiftly, you 
must care for the feet, whereon our running depends; likewise © 
if you would be a mighty boxer, the arms must be made strong 
and supple, wherewith men box; and similarly in the case of 
all the other parts of the body, one or another must be cared ~ 
for in accordance with our special desire to use it. Since it is 
easy for all to perceive this, I never cease pondering nor can I — 
marvel sufficiently, why, as the fact is, men do not likewise 
cultivate their minds in the use of reason. And this reason, 
which is needful to all alike for their living, is not the reason 
which we mean when we speak of the rationale of painting or 
of playing upon a stringed instrument, which any good man is at 
liberty to despise without blameworthiness of mind, without 
shame, without trouble. I do not, like the Sibimeniae, know how © 
to play on the flute, but I am not ashamed that I am not a flute- 
player. I do not know, like Appelles, how to paint in colors. 
but I am not ashamed not to be a limner. And so in the case of 
the other arts, if I were to run through them all, you are at 
liberty without reproach to be ignorant of them. But say if 
you dare, ‘I do not know how to live well, as Socrates, Plato, 
Pitagoras lived, nor am I ashamed not to know how to live 
well,’—this you will never dare to say. But the thing which is 
chiefly to be marvelled at is that what they least of all wish to be 
ignorant of, they yet neglect to learn, and thus at the same time 
they decline to have either knowledge or ignorance of one and 
the same art. Therefore you may cast up their daily expenses 
and you will find in their accounts many prodigious sums laid 
out and yet nothing upon themselves, nothing for the cultivation 
of what I may call their ‘demon,’ which cult is the essence of the ~ 
solemn oath of the philosopher. They build sumptuous villas, 
and adorn their houses richly, and recruit enormous retinues. 
In all this, in the midst of such affluence of material things, 
there is nothing to cause shame unless it be the master himself. 
Nor is it to libel them to say that they have possessions to which 


Policraticus VI 28 ame 


they attend with sedulous care while they themselves go about 
‘mean, untaught, and uncultivated. You may look upon all the 
outward forms of things in which they have poured out their 
patrimony, and all is most delightful, most complete, most ornate, 
—you will see villas rivalling cities, dwelling-houses decorated 
like temples, multitudinous retinues’ of slaves crimped and 
curled, sumptuous furnishings, all things affluent, all things 
opulent, all things adorned; all save only the master himself, 
who is a very Tantalus in the midst of his riches, indigent, needy, 
poor, not able to catch the current of what flows past him, but 
thirsting and hungering for the illusive water which ever escapes 
him and which is the water of true blessedness, that is to say of 
a happy life and of the wisdom which leads to good fortune. 
For he does not know that riches are rightly to be regarded in 
the same way that we bargain for horses. For in buying horses 
we do not consider the head ornaments, or the trimmings of the 
girth, or look at the richness of the embellishments of the neck 
to see whether the collar is of gold or silver or set with various 
gems of great price, whether the head and neck ornaments are 
wrought with the perfection of art, whether the bridle is covered, 
whether the trappings are dyed, whether particular parts are 
gilded ; but putting away and disregarding all these superfluities, 
we look at the naked horse itself, its body and disposition, and 
whether it is an honest horse to look upon, swift of pace and 
strong to carry burdens; to see first of all as to its body whether 


‘The head is slender and graceful, the belly short, the back stout, 
And whether the proud chest swells with honest muscles’ ; ! 


and then whether the spine divides at the loins, for I want not 
merely a fast horse but one which is easy and comfortable to 
ride. And in exactly the same way in judging men, do not 
value what is extraneous, but look deeply into the man himself ; 


1 Verg., Georg. iii, 80-81. 


274. John of Salisbury 


expect him, like my beloved Socrates, to be poor. For I call 
extraneous or borrowed all that he has received from his parents 
and all that fortune has bestowed on him, and of such things I © 
admit none to a share in my praise of Socrates ; I exclude nobil- 
ity, good ancestry, a long family tree, and enviable wealth. For 
all these, I say, are borrowed plumes. It is glory enough for 
Prothaonius that he was a man of whom his grandson need not — 
be ashamed. Therefore all such things you may count as bor- — 
rowed. Is he of noble birth? Give the praise to his parents. 
Is he rich? I do not put my trust in fortune,—I rather dis- 
count such accidents. Is he strong? He may lose his strength 
by sickness. Is he quick and active? He will grow old. Is he 
handsome? Wait a while and he will no longer be so. But 
say that he is well-taught in excellent arts and highly accom- 
plished, and so far as a man may be, wise and of good counsel. 
Now at last you are praising the man himself. For this is 
neither something which he has inherited from his father nor 
which is at the mercy of fortune, nor a mere prize of favor that 
lasts for a year, nor a thing that will fail with the body or alter 
with age. All these my beloved Socrates had and therefore 
scorned to have the rest. Apply yourself therefore to the study 
of wisdom, or at least do not make haste to hear yourself 
praised for what does not belong to you; but let him who would 
ennoble you praise you as Actius praises Ulysses in his Phil- 
octhetas, at the very commencement of that tragedy: 


‘Famous man, endowed with a poor fatherland, 

Renowned in name and mighty because of your glorious heart, 
Helper of the fleets of the Achaians, 

Stern avenger of the Dardanian nations, 

Son of Lahertes.’ 


He mentions his father last of all. As for the rest, all that you 
hear is praise of the man himself. From it Lahertes and An- 
ticlia and Arcisius (or Acrisius) take nothing. The whole of 


Policraticus VI 28 275 


this praise, as you see, is the personal possession of Ulysses 
himself. Nor otherwise is the teaching of Homer concerning 
this same Ulysses, whom he makes always to have prudence for 
his companion, which, according to the poetic formula, he names 
Minerva. With such companionship he safely underwent all 
manner of terrors, overcame all obstacles. With her assistance 
he entered the cave of the Cyclops and came forth again ; beheld 
the oxen of the Sun but abstained from them; descended to 
the underworld but reascended ; with the companionship of the 
same wisdom he navigated safely past Scilla and was not swept 
away, was surrounded by Caribdis and not engulfed, drank the 
cup of Circe and was not transformed, visited the Lotus Eaters 
and did not remain, heard the Sirens and did not approach 
then. -* 


2 Apuleius, de Deo Socr., cc. 21-24. 


CHA’? TE Ree ee 


THAT THE PEOPLE IS SHAPED TO THE MEASURE OF THE PRINCE'S 
DESERTS, AND THAT THE PRINCE’S GOVERNMENT IS SHAPED 
TO THE MEASURE OF THE PEOPLE'S DESERTS ,; AND THAT , 
WHEN GOD IS WELL PLEASED EVERY CREATURE IS TAMED 
AND SERVES MAN. 


So Apuleius expressed the thought, aptly and finely; and 
would that his words were heeded! For if every man were to 
labor in the cultivation of himself, and were to regard things ex- 
ternal to himself as no proper concern of his, straightway the 
condition of each and all would become the best possible, virtue 
would flourish and reason prevail, and mutual charity would 
reign everywhere, so that the flesh would be subdued to the 
spirit and the spirit would serve God with full devotion. And 
if these things come to pass, the members will not be bowed 
down beneath the weight of the head, nor will the head languish 
because of the weakness and cowardice of the members; for 
such are the results which follow from the infirmity of sin. 
For the offences of his subjects detract from the merits of the 
good prince, and the sins of those in high place give to subjects 
an excuse and example of transgressing. Whence the saying: 
“The whole head is sick and the whole heart sad; from the sole 
of the foot unto the crown of the head there is no health 
therein.” Therefore the prince is made merciful by the 
blamelessness of the people, and the blamelessness of the prince 
checks popular excesses. For when God is well pleased, every 


asa. i, 8) 0: 
276 


Moierottcus Vi 29 a77 


creature is gentle and serves mankind, but when God is wrath- 
ful, every creature takes up arms to avenge Him. The raven 
fed Helya; the bear obeyed the command of the prophet; the 
lion unlearned the fierceness of its nature and spurned the feast 
set before it that Daniel might be spared; the feet of the just 
passed dry-shod over the waters ; the kindled flames did not pre- 
vail over the youths in the fiery furnace; at the prayer of the 
faithful the air withholds its showers and the earth its fruits, 
and heaven itself pours forth its fires upon the impious.” 


2 Chapter xxx., entitled “A Brief Epilogue against the Followers of 
Gnato,” is omitted. 


Here ends the Sixth Book 


f 9 
j ry 
ini 
; 
4 
‘ . ¢ 
¢ 
. 
‘ i 
rc 
P 4 
’ 
ae 
j 
} 
\ . 
% 
Ny 
: ' 1 
i 
i 
7 i 
j 
1 a 
i 
EL 
i ie i 
j . i 
7 . ! 
. ny 
P ‘ 
4 
ee , 7 
. fi : = , ¢ 
q 1 oD [ OS, 
f wre 


7 ub 
i 
d i 
4 
1 
1 
- ‘ 
~ 
7 
‘ 
é 
| 
‘ 
” 
’ 
f 
¢ 
‘ 
» 
1 
' 
» st 
"we 
\ 
F, i 
i 
¥ ‘ 
t ; 4 i 
f f i 
ite voy 


Stowe DERY XV 1 


OF AMBITION; AND THAT CUPIDITY IS THE COMPANION OF 
FOLLY: AND OF THE ORIGIN OF TYRANNY: AND OF THE 
DIVERSE WAYS OF THE AMBITIOUS. 


Some there are who strive to avoid, if not the taint,-at least 
the hateful outward stigma of avarice; and these abstain in 
appearance from touching what belongs to others and are ready 
to use their own substance generously when need arises. Yet 
they none the less do not escape a certain current of vice which 
springs from the fountain of all evils and turns aside the paths 
of such men from the way of true felicity. . . . This fountain 
is the well of cupidity; it is defined on the authority of the 
fathers by saying that cupidity is the love of those things 
whereof a man can be deprived against his will.t Folly is as- 
sociated with it as its fellow, persuading men to love and 
seek for that which cannot be retained; and folly is the blame- 
worthy ignorance of those things which it is our duty to know. 
So the book of the great Augustine on Free Will describes 
it.2 For if a man does not know that which it is not possible 
for him to know, this is not set down to the account of folly; 
but when he is in bondage to ignorance of himself, then he 
passes over into the ranks of fools. If he prefers ends which 
are patently inferior to those which are of greater value, he 
judges foolishly; if, pursuing the vices, he chooses the worse 
for the better part, he is condemned to the ill-repute of folly; 
if his error was caused by cupidity, a many-forked road of 


1Aug., De Lib. Arbit., i, 5, § 10. 2 [bid. iii, 24, § 71. 
281 


282 John of Salvs-byeay 


destruction yawns before him, since error leads a man not to 
know the right end to pursue, and while he wanders in the 
wilderness, the furnace of cupidity burns him with its fires from 
within. And yet the words of the unjust still prevail, and man, 
ignorant of the knowledge which belongs to him, and refusing 
to bear the yoke of the obedience which he owes, aspires to a_ 
kind of fictitious liberty, vainly imagining that he can live 
without fear and do with impunity whatsoever pleases him, 
and somehow be straightway like unto God; not, however, that 
he desires to imitate the divine goodness, but rather seeks to 
incline God to favor his wickedness by granting him immunity 
from punishment for his evil deeds. 

Thus from the root of pride creeps up ambition, to wit the 
lust of power and glory, so that from hence it draws the strength 
which prevents it from being trampled down, from hence comes 
the respect which prevents it from becoming cheap. Now there 
is none who can help taking joy in liberty, or who does not de- 
sire the strength wherewith to preserve it; there is nought which 
would not be given in exchange therefor if need arose. For 
slavery is as it were the image of death, and liberty is the as- 
sured certainty of life. Therefore it is that wealth is poured 
out in wooing power; and the more a man lusts after power, 
the more lavishly he spends for the sake of it. But when such 
a man does attain to power, he exalts himself into a tyrant, and, 
spurning equity, does not scruple in the sight of God Himself to 
oppress and humiliate the equals of his rank and nature. And 
though it is not given to all men to seize princely or royal 
power, yet the man who is wholly untainted by tyranny is rare 
or non-existent. In common speech the tyrant is one who op- 
presses a whole people by rulership based on force; and yet 
it is not only over a people as a whole that a man can play 
the tyrant, but he can do so if he will in even the meanest sta- 
tion. For if not over the whole body of the people, still each 
man will lord it as far as his power extends. I am not here 


Policraticus VII 17 283 


speaking of men whose hearts are wholly cleansed and who 
rejoice in continual subjection, declining to be set over any in 
this life; my task is rather to analyze the life of men in the polit- 
ical state. And whom will you name me among them who does 
not desire in point of power to be set ahead of at least one other ? 
Who is there who does not wish to have authority over some 
one? Who is there who treats those subject to bim as he 
would wish to be treated if he were himself a subject? And 
so when ambition takes root, equity is trampled under foot 
and injustice advances apace and, giving rise to tyranny, pur- 
sues all the means by which the latter grows. He who does not 
prevail by his own powers, strives to make use of the power of 
others. It is plain to the sight how many hunters after power, 
wooers of honors, cleave to the side of the powerful, meddle in 
the public concerns of the commonwealth, trying to find some 
way whereby they can lift themselves aloft on one side or 
the other, whereby they can become more powerful than others, 
or at least seem more powerful by reason of those with whom 
they associate. They pour out their patrimony, they set about 
and perform immense labors; they do not scruple to press with 
their services and worry with their flatteries those whom they 
seek to captivate. And so no office is gratuitous, no duke or 
judge, no centurion or captain of ten, nay, not even a crier or 
publican is appointed save for a price. 

In the sphere of worldly affairs such a situation might be 
tolerable so long as the point is not reached where the conduct 
of the public business is subverted by ambition ; for whatsoever 
duties are of a public nature ought to be consecrated to piety 
and good faith; but still public offices are peculiarly the ob- 
jects of ambition, and rarely or never fall to the lot of any 
one gratuitously. On this head what I have quoted above from 
the “Instruction of Trajan” should be sufficient. But not with- 
out groans and tears do I find myself under the necessity of de- 
ploring the calamities of the House of God. itself, ahd that the 


284 John of Salisbury 


secret chamber of Wisdom is thrown open to fornicators and 
the recesses of the inner sanctuary are converted into a brothel. 
For the House of Prayer, against the express commandment of 
God, is made a mart of trade; and the temple founded on the 
rock of assistance is turned into a den of thieves. Verily the 
Church is given over to pillage, and some take possession of her 
openly, others by stealth; it may be that title to her passes to 
the occupant on the theory that she is nobody’s property.® 
Never or seldom is any found to gird sword upon thigh to 
check the presuming insolence of ambition, which sets up its 
manifold engines of war to take her by storm while none de- 
fends her. For one man trusting in the nobility of his birth 
or the strength of worldly powers bursts by violence into the 
sanctuary, and if perchance he deigns to knock at the door, he 
does not scruple to overturn at the same time the wall or the 
lintels. He will stir up mutiny against Moyses, and bring 
alien fire into the temple, and pollute the vessels of the sanctuary. 
Another, trusting to the multitude of his riches, enters by the 
way that Simon showed, and finds none within to bid him and 
his money go to perdition. Another hesitates to approach Peter 
with gifts; but secretly in a shower of gold, even as Jupiter 
glided through the tiles into the lap of Danae, the unchaste 
suitor descends into the bosom of the Church. Another offers 
obsequious service as being innocent of corrupt intent, and as 
though services could not be accounted a bribe; though surely 
no bribe is greater than when one man gives himself up in 
slavery to another. There are others again in whose case the 
appointment precedes the largess by the collusion of the ap- 
pointing power so that it seems due to the latter’s generosity ; 
but after the favor has been received the benfactor will be more 
fully compensated than Giezi. Another acts as though it were 
improper for him to knock at the door, and as if he were forced 


3 Justin., Inst. ii, 1, § 7. 


Policraticus VII 17 285 


to enter against his will, seeking as it were to cloud the sight of 
God in order to cozen Him and then laugh at Him with im- 
punity. Another long dissimulates, betraying indeed his am- 
bition by many signs and confessing that he desires to become 
wealthy, powerful, famous, but always in some other way, in 
some other position, in one of less danger or of greater free- 
dom. It has been his wish to gain high station among laymen 
or the lesser clergy. This is why he has sought the favor of 
princes, has entered into intimacy with them, has undertaken 
for them one service or another. Perchance he has been put 
in charge of the records, or undertaken the duty of. affixing 
the seal, or the custody of the treasure, or the keys of the public 
treasury, or the various bonds and other securities and accounts, 
or, if he can get nothing better, has contrived to be put in 
charge of the poor-funds; not because he is really concerned 
about the needy or wishes to provide for the poor, but because 
he is a thief, and has coffers which his avarice opens at the 
right time to stuff them sacrilegiously under the pretext of 
piety, and thus piles up riches for himself at the expense of the 
neediness, nay even the death, of the poor. For if he were 
moved by a feeling of true compassion he would rather spend 
his own substance loyally upon the poor and for their ease than 
like a corrupt tradesman lay hands upon what is set apart for 
others. 

Today, however, everything is bought openly, unless this is 
prevented by the modesty of the seller. The unclean fire of 
avarice threatens even the sacred altars, so that these are 
bought in advance as being a kind of appurtenance; and 
thus, because they do not directly come into the market, are 
thought to be lawfully and justly acquired if they are pre- 
empted or bought as part and parcel of something else.** And 
what of it? Does not the praetor give his approval that those 
things shall come into the market which by ancient law are pos- 


3a j.¢., of the temporalities of the office. 


286 lohn. of: Satas pate 


sessed by laymen in such sense that they pass by descent to the 
heirs of the possessor and may be alienated by the latter by 
way of gift or exchange? What then prohibits the right of 
advowson or the patronage of a church from being disposed of ? 
For the fact that blessed Ambrose declared that such acts amount 
to heretical simony * they wave aside by interpreting it as but 
a provincial decree, and one which therefore is properly bind- 
ing only in Italy and among the Lombards. As for the apos- 
tolic ordinance which provides that those who seek the right of 
advowson in order the more easily to slip into the churches 
which they covet shall not be admitted to the churches whereof 
they have sought the advowson dishonestly,—that ordinance they 
treat as a mere warning admonition, and say that it was never in- 
tended to be perpetual, and must be dispensed with when time 
and place require; for blessed Cyril writes in his letter to the 
synod of Ephesus that a certain freedom of dispensation never 
displeased any wise man. If you ask where the limits of this 
dispensing power are to be placed, it seems probable that the 
strictness of the canons will be relaxed in favor of the rich, 
the noble, the powerful, or those who hold offices at court. For 
life and morals are the last things whereof mention will be 
made; but as for persons of the classes I have described, upon 
them of course the law of the canons was never imposed. For 
verily they are children of justice and so guided by the Spirit 
that necessarily there is no need for them to be under the law. 
Let the law therefore ordain whatever pleases the legislator ; 
for these people enjoy the privilege of a prince and think that 
whatever they improperly covet is lawful for them to obtain. 
They put bishops under obligation to yield up the first benefices, 
and do not scruple to bargain for the future succession. The 
pact then awaits fulfilment by the sad event, and the expectant 
candidate has thus a motive to steel himself for the slaughter of 
the incumbent whose succession he covets. For if the latter 
44 Gratian., AJeerel. ibe, ee eee 


Poemeraivcus V Il 317 287 


delays in making way, they vex and oppose and bring pressure 
upon him in countless ways; his possession makes him as it 
were their adversary in an action in rem. And if any prel- 
ate, mindful of his rank and dignity, does not yield to them 
as they wish, he must hear bitter tales on that account, because 
they regard it as an absolute indignity and insult if their shame- 
ful and dishonorable petitions ever meet with a repulse. Mean- 
while they are wafted forward by the beating of their own 
wings, they build their nests in every province, scarcely know 
themselves how many nests they have, prepare for themselves 
nightly hospices for journeys into every part of the world, 
and out of so great a number spare scarce one little inn for their 
shabby comrade; for if anyone does this it is a proof of 
exemplary generosity. So also it is a mark of notable foresight 
if a man can accumulate for himself by any means whatever so 
many altars that he can follow the Memphitic ritual and each 
day perform his sacrifice upon a new altar. But on the other 
hand they are not willing to be burdened with priestly duties or 
to serve the altar themselves, who yet live by the altar, not to 
go so far as the people do and charge that they fatten by the 
altar; but to spare themselves this trouble they have intro- 
duced the practice of performing their duties by a system of 
deputies or vicars, whereby one man reaps the emoluments while 
another bears the burdens of service. And although the Apostle 
says, “If any man will not work, let him not eat,” ° it is now 
so ordered that he who merits least reaps the most, and the 
man who spends his time in idleness or vice enters into the 
reward of other men’s toil. But who would say that in buy- 
ing this privilege, since it is a thing not holy but profane, the 
sin of simony can be committed? For to reach this goal they 
cross over, as the common saying is, by a bridge of silver, 
thereby avoiding the sordidness and shame which attach to 
one who crosses by the bridge of gold. 


52 Thess. ili, 10. 


CHA PT ERs 


THAT THE AMBITIOUS DISSIMULATE THEIR GREAT DESIRE, AND 
OF THE EXCUSES WHEREWITH THEY VEIL THEIR REAL 
OBJECTIVE. 


But lo, to the end that some such man may be promoted, the 
Church is either coerced or cozened into saying to the enemy 
within her house, “Friend, go up higher.’* They feign naive 
amazement, shy off from the mentioned dignity, refuse the 
burden of the honor, and, that they may be pushed forward the — 
more greedily, even as a battering ram draws back that it may 
strike the harder, they decline advancement with sighs and 
groans and sobs interrupting their crocodile tears. For it is 
well-known that promotion draws the unwilling irresistibly for- 
ward, but passes over those who bear the stigma of evident 
ambition. . Therefore they strive to prove by reasons and au- 
thorities why they ought not to be made bishops. “I am no 
healer,” one will say, “and in my house there is no bread;? I 
have not at my disposal treasure whence I can bring forth things 
new and old for the needy in the pinch of their necessity.* 
I can above all rely upon the excuse alleged by the prophet,* 
namely that I have no skill in speaking, and that I am a child, 
if not in years, yet in knowledge and in the levity of my life. 
I was clothed from the beginning in filthy garments and I 
have never sought to wash them white in the blood or gar- 
ments of the Lamb. How, then, being unclean, shall I handle 
the things of holiness, or cleanse the things which are defiled 


1 Luke xiv, 10. 2 Isa. iii, 7. 8 Matt. xi, 52," Ser, 2, 6. 
288 


Policraticus VII 18 289 


as a priest should do? For I have treated the law with con- 
tinual disrespect, nor have I ever scrupled to pollute the sanctu- 
ary of God against the warning of Ezechiel. My promotion 
therefore would be the downfall of the people. For verily evil 
priests are the ruin of a people; they are a snare set for the 
people in their sight, and like unto a net spread for the catch- 
ing of souls. J am terrified by the mystical parable of Aggeus, 
which expresses the peril of the priesthood and teaches plainly 
that the people are more readily infected with vices from the 
lives of their priests than drawn thereby to the virtues. “Ask 
the priests the law,’ he says,’ ‘and say unto them, If holy flesh 
or a holy vessel touch the garment of any, shall that which 
is touched be made holy by that which touches it?’ And when 
the priests answered that it would not be made holy, he said to 
them again, ‘If uncleanness touches the garment of one that is 
clean will it pollute him?’ And they answered that it would 
pollute him. Therefore it is better that I, being but one, shall 
be consumed by my own vices, than that a pestilence of vices 
shall be spread abroad among many. Besides, even if I were a 
person altogether worthy, even if I was not entangled in the 
meshes of the court, Micheas sternly warns me away from the 
entrance, not enduring that Sion shall be built up with blood 
and Jerusalem by the iniquity of her princes.” © 

Here is either no election, or one made under duress, or else 
a mere pretence of one. Prolonging the debate, he lingers 
on this point. He says finally that he cannot be promoted with- 
out being suspected of the sin of simony, since it will be thought 
that for this purpose he has bought the office of the seal or 
the treasury or the records, though really it was with quite a 
different intention that he entered the service of the prince, as 
is now amply witnessed by his spewing the proferred honor out 
of his mouth, and as his own conscience testifies ; for his only 


5 Haggai ii, 12. 6 Micah ili, 10. 


290 John of Salisbury 


desire in taking office was to obtain honor without too great a — 
burdensia7 here he will repeat the apostolic ordinances whereby : 
it was long ago provided that all those shall be debarred from 4 
sacred orders and from all hope of promotion who buy any — 
secular offices at court, or perform base or servile duties about — . 
the persons of princes, or whose election is not by the clergy in ; 
the church and canonically performed without a prior nomina- . 
tion by any temporal ruler; the consecration of all who are — 
otherwise elected being arohinte under penalty of anathema 
by the Universal Church.’ % 

One of our own princes (unfortunately I do not happen to— 
recall his name) is remembered as having dealt admirably with — 
a case of this kind. It does not make much difference whether 
it was Henry or Robert. When a certain ambitious monk was — 
named to an abbacy which he had already bought, and with pre- 
tended modesty declined the honor, alleging its heavy burdens — 
and protesting his unworthiness for so high a charge, but only — 
to the end that he might be pressed the more urgently to take — 
it; “Of course,’’ said the prince, “you are clearly unworthy since 
you have already secretly bought the place of me for such and 
such a sum of money,” and he named the amount. “But since 
now it is not my fault if the contract is not fulfilled, I consider 
it as just to regard myself as discharged from any obligation 
in the matter; go home, then, and let some one who is worthy 
be placed over the church which you have abandoned.” 

But today the ambitious self-excuser fares far otherwise, 
and more successfully ; all these arguments and many more he 
multiplies to the end that he may be thought not to desire that 
which he covets and at last seem to receive freely that which he 
has already bought. Whereby he is taken for a man of ex- 
ceptional modesty, is dragged up to the very throne by shout- 
ing crowds and applauding choirs, and is swept along by the 
press of the multitude. Nor does it avail to have pleaded base 


7 Justin., Cod. x, 31, 34. 


Pepeernitcus VII 1é 291 


birth or blood, since a successor is sought not for an emperor, 
but for a fisherman; for the carpenter’s Son, not for Augustus. 
His skilful excuses betray his learning, and his piety is proved 
by his long refusal to accept the proffered promotion; for in 
appearance he did not desire that which he so long deferred. 
As for the obstacle of the canons, a ready dispensation on the 
eround of special circumstances of time and place and person 
is granted by a greedy multitude of kindred spirits reaching 
out after honors by the same road. If they cannot strive for 
what is present or past, they predict for themselves future ad- 
vancement. Thus the eager horse-trader, “puffing” brazenly a 
horse or colt of unknown quality, promises that it will be a 
future pacer, and by his lavish praise palms off the broken beast 
with its snail’s gait into the stable of some unwary merchant. 


CHAP TE Rava 


OF THOSE WHO PUSH THEMSELVES FORWARD WITHOUT VEILING 


THEIR IMPUDENCE OR DISSEMBLING THEIR AMBITION AND 
WHO CAN BE HELD’ BACK NEITHER BY REASON NOR 


AUTHORITY. 


There are many on the contrary who do not dissemble thei 
objective at all, but, in common parlance, blow their own am- 
bitious trumpets and ridicule such people as I have been speak- 
ing of, as coward soldiers who do not dare to acknowledge the 
colors of their profession. These bolder ones, although they 
are unclean and neither wish to amend their own lives, nor 
know how to mould the lives of others, yet rush pell-mell with 
their filthy feet, so to speak, into the very Holy of Holies, bent, 
if they are permitted, on handling with hands which are not 
merely unwashed but foul the shew-bread of the Lord and the 
flesh of the spotless lamb roasted in the fire of the passion on 
the cross. These are the men who, though they are thought 
unworthy even to approach the vestibule and gates, yet press 
straight into the seats of the priesthood, push into the sanctu- 
ary, and, repulsing others, make their beds upon the holy altars, 
so that the priesthood itself seems to have been instituted not 
for the purpose of affording a model and example to the peo- 
ple but rather to provide an opportunity for such men to live 
in plenty and in care-free ease. Nor do they regard the office 
as accountable to the strict judgment of God, but as a comfort- 
able and irresponsible administrative berth. You might sup- 
pose that they had all been summoned by the voice of a herald 
proclaiming in the words of the poet, 

292 


: 


Poieeraticus VII-+-19 293 
“Let the itch take the hindmost.” + 


Hence they contend with the fierceness of the games in the 
stadium, each panting to keep the others from a bishopric. 

In desire, if not in fact, rulers are far more numerous than 
the number of the ruled. For those who are willing to be 
ruled are extremely few, and each seeks with all his might 
to be exempted from subjection to his own proper ruler. Many 
enjoy such immunity by apostolic or royal privilege, which pro- 
tects them from having to obey their proper judges or to do 
justice, or even from being subject to the law of God. I do 
not criticize the generosity of the Apostolic See, but I do think 
that these indulgences which it grants are not to the advantage 
of the Church of God. We read of nothing of the kind among 
the glorious family of Christ, although there too there was con- 
tention among them as to who was to be in authority. But I 
do not recall that any such exemption was ever granted by the 
Apostles, although we hear that Paul and Barnabas parted 
from one another.? In that City on High which is our mother 
we do not believe that there is any matter of contention, and 
neither should there be here on earth, unless demanded by 
the most pressing reason. Concerning these men, therefore, 
(with all due regard for their number and for those who en- 
courage their iniquity), I shall speak what I think, not abating 
a jot from truth or probability. I say, then, that I indubitably 
think that these men, who in their overweening pride seek ex- 
emptions of this character, would cast off from their necks 
the yoke of Christ and His Father if they could; nay even, I 
say more, they do cast off His yoke so far as in them lies, and 
falsely contradict the divine ordinances. The saying of the 
Apostles, “not all men are prophets, not all are magistrates,” * is 
brought altogether to nought, for now all are indeed prophets 
and magistrates, so that according to the old proverb we may 


4 Hor., 4. P., 417. 2 Acts xv, 39. 8 ft Con. Xt, 20, 


294 John of Salisbury 


justly count even Saul as among the prophets; and in fact, as 
Gregory Nazanzenus says, history does not record that ever 
were sO many ministers in the Church or the number of the 
congregations so paltry; whence there is brought upon the re- 
ligion and doctrine of Christ the grave scandal that the priestly 
office and ministry are bestowed rather on ambition and as 
the reward of favor than by just appraisal of merits. 

And so all contend in the race, and when the goal is reached, 
that one among them receives the prize who emerges swifter 
than the rest in the race of ambition, and outruns Peter or any 
other of the disciples of Christ. For he mounts thither so fast 
as to anticipate the speed of even a hurried summons. These 
are the men who visit princes with frequent gifts, become suitors 
to their attendants and favorites, commend themselves to the 
headmen of the chtrches, applaud all men, and ask not merely 
the officials but the very valets of great houses to remember 
them when they see a “place.” These are the friends of all 
men, who desire not so much to be promoted themselves as that 
in themselves their friends may be promoted. These are the 
men who scrutinize the lives of others while they neglect their 
own, count the years of mitred heads and rejoice in them when — 
they are hoary, consult forecasters and astrologers concerning 
the destiny of their superiors, have their waters examined, and, 
as it were, weigh in a balance the elements of men still alive; 
and when they think that any are living too long for their liking, 
they say that such are exceeding the age of old Nestor and have 
already fulfilled the allotted span of the stag or the crow. 
From the feeble in years or health they wring favors by threats 
and pressure, they besmirch the honest with false accusations, 
and like legacy-hunters they lie in ambush by the couches of 
the sick, and often solicit the unlawful fruits of seats of authority 
seized by means of a scandalous bargain. These are the men 
who, to further their own cause and secure promotion, assume 
dishonorable obligations ; and at last when it comes to the point, 


Moimeraticcus VII ro 295 


forgetful of the faith unfaithful which they have pledged, they 
block their own path and cause their own defeat through their 
utter subjection to the motives of ambition and envy. 

And thus, while the fury and fierceness of the competition 
increases, the wisdom of God working by the hidden way of 
His right ordering of things, frequently leads to the selection of 
an unknown candidate, a true and trusty soul who has never 
before been mentioned or thought of for the place. But the 
others omit no contingency from their calculations; except 
perchance in so far as they fail to observe the circumstance 
that they are exceeding the bounds of proper moderation in 
their canvass, if indeed there can be said to be any exceeding 
of bounds in that which knows no bounds whatever. They 
will even smite and hurl down princes if obsequiousness proves 
of no avail and if solicitations do not further them; then their 
ambition puts forth all its strength, displays the wealth of its 
own and its borrowed resources, and speaking out boldly and 
rising to the very mountain-top of elation, shouts aloud; “All 
this will I give to thee if thou wilt be untrue to the foundations 
of thy faith and wilt promote me.” For verily this is to fall 
away from the foundations of the faith, since it is established 
by the authority of the holy fathers that he falls from the | 
purity of the faith into the heresy of simony who makes avari- 
cious traffic of things spiritual, that is to say of sacred and 
ecclesiastical concerns. Nor does it make any difference whether 
the money passes in the deal before or afterwards, since those 
who make such things a matter of negotiation at any time are 
involved in the condemnation prescribed for the sin of simony. 
For there is an absolute and perpetual prohibition against giving 
or receiving anything on this account, and it is never lawful to 
give or receive that which is in all cases prohibited. For as 
Tharasius the patriarch says, “to give” means to give at any 
time, and “to receive’ means to receive at any time.* 


4Grat., Decret., ii, 1, q. 1, c. 21 (ed. Friedberg, i, p, 366). 


296 John of Salisbury 


A case of this kind which happened in Apulia in my own 
time resulted admirably. When Roger of Sicily was king it — 
chanced that the church of Avella in Campania fell vacant. — 
Robert, the chancellor of the aforesaid king, presided over — 
Apulia and Calabria, a man who was an able executive and © 
extremely shrewd without any great learning, ready of speech © 
beyond most of the provincials, not unequal to any of them in ~ 
eloquence, feared by all because of his influence with the | 
prince, and respected for the elegance of his life, which was — 
the more remarkable in those regions because among the Lom- 
bards, who are known to be the most frugal, not to say miserly, ~ 
of men, he laid out great sums in sumptuous living and dis- 
played the magnificence characteristic of his nation; for he was — 
of English nationality.© There came to him three men, one an ~ 
abbot, another an archdeacon, the third a layman who was a 
bailiff of the king, the latter coming to act in behalf of his — 
brother who was a cleric; and each of the three secretly offered 
a large sum of money for the above-mentioned bishopric. What 
more is there to tell? Summoning his attendants he agreed on a 
price with each of them. The bargain and sale was in each— 
case completed, sufficient security given. for the payment of 
the money, pledges and sureties exchanged, and a day appointed 
for solemnly holding the election in due form. When the day 
arrived and the archbishops, bishops and many venerable per- 
sons had assembled, the aforesaid chancellor set forth the pre- 
tensions of the competitors as well as all that had taken place 
between himself and each of them, and said that he was now 
ready to proceed in accordance with the opinion of the bishops. 
They condemned all three simoniac competitors, and a poor 
monk, ignorant of the whole affair, was canonically elected, con- 


5Tt is an interesting sidelight on this passage and on John of Salis- 
bury’s acquaintance with this Chancellor Robert of Sicily that the author 
of the Policraticus is reported to have “drunk the chancellor's heavy 
wines to his undoing,” C. H. Haskins in Eng. Hist. Rev., xxvi, 437. 


mooperaitcus VII 19 297 


firmed, and installed. The others were compelled to pay the 
amount to which they had obligated themselves, even to the 
uttermost farthing. Would that the same course were pur- 
sued with our own covetous suitors who make all the seats of 
honor to stink with a keener and more curious scent than that 
which so powerfully leads the cunning of dogs to track down 
the warrens of rabbits or the dens of beasts! If my own opin- 
ion were followed, there would be excluded in the same way 
those who, dissembling their ambition, pretend to draw back 
to the end that they may the more successfully break into the 
posts of honor from which, as they themselves confess, they 
should be thrust forth; for truly it would be but just to credit 
their own testimony against themselves since no one knows 
better their secret faults.° 


a 


Amid such current practices the studies of philosophic men 
are held in ridicule; if aught is heard that is new, it is straight- 
way condemned as profane; or if it comes from a person of 
small consequence, it is scornfully brushed aside. For that it 
should be brought to the test of reason or authority is altogether 
too much to expect. If you urge reason or authority in its 
support, they will cast in your teeth “custom,” which they abuse, 
or which they themselves have made; and one of these magnates 
says to the other: 


“Is this any reason for growing lean? Is this any reason why 
one should not feast? Your learned doctors would not fetch a 
bid of thirty cents if they were put up at auction”; 7 


and thus they that drink wine aim their music against the 
sober. 


6 A portion of the chapter is here omitted as relatively unimportant. 
It lists various vices which unfit candidates for ecclesiastical offices, and 
the excuses by which they seek to justify themselves. 

Pres, oat, 11, 85. 


298 John of Salisbury 


Nor is it only the episcopal dignity to which they lay siege 
with so much ambition, but today all the highest and lowest 
offices alike are the objects of the same lust for power and 
pre-eminence. The man who does not dare aspire to a bishopric 
will lay siege with the like audacity and with the same cunning 
wiles to a prefecture, an archdeaconry or some other office. 
Give him an inch and he will take an ell, gradually pushing his 
way to the front in the thought that 


“Fortune favors the bold,” ® 


and that timidity convicts of degeneracy the heart which yields 
fOuit2 

Of course, no one descends all at once to the depths of dis- 
honor. But if such men find themselves gradually succeeding, 
they come to believe that there is no point which they may not 
hope to reach. And so in the end what they seek they obtain, 
but at the cost, to use the common expression, of incurring 
the wrath of God. 


“Then, too late, in their misery they mourn days spent in darkness, 
Sunk in the bog of vice, and the loss of their lives.” *° 


Thereupon they conceive a new and belated anxiety, because 
time thrown away can never be recovered. Accordingly they 
root out the contents of the shelves at the head of the monks’ 
beds, they pillage the book-presses of men of letters, they ask 
about for parchments, they read anthologies and books of selec- 
tions, they search for little treatises, and strive in all ways to 
seem to know that which they do not know; for not even yet 
are they concerned to really know, and to become truly profi- 
cient in virtue. It is only the outward semblance of virtue 
which they seek, having always preferred it to virtue itself. 


8 Verg., Aen. x, 284. 9 Ibid. iv, 13. 10 Pers., Sat. v, 60, 61. 


Pomweraiicus </Il 319 299 


In all the world there is nought more pitiable than to shine in 
borrowed finery; and all admit that a debtor shows himself 
indigent indeed who can make payment only by incurring a 
new indebtedness to some one else. In truth they go through 
the motions of redeeming their lost time in such wise as to 
convince you that the satirist rightly hits them off with the re- 
proach, 


“You are pliant as wet clay, fated to be caught up 
and shaped forever by the cruel wheel. 

Men will make their sport of despising you as you ooze forth 
aimlessly. 

When struck, the flaw reveals itself in the sound, 

The unbaked vase of raw clay rings untrue.” 14 


The frankness of the Truth brings this charge like a goad to 
spur sloth into action, and brings it not merely against prelates 
of the Church, but against all who have presumed to take upon 
themselves the office of a teacher before they have fulfilled the 
part of a learner. For whence shall men bring forth new and 
old who have always despised new and old alike? Nor can 
they excuse themselves on the ground of their number, or 
that they have simply fallen in with the error of others, since 
the pattern of life is by no means to be taken from the example 
of those whom we live with, but rather from the Word of 
God, in the way whereof walk the blessed, who advance by 
the straight path to the land of true felicity. A thing is not 
the less a sin because it is the sin of many; it is all the more 
grave in that it is multiplied. Nor is the fault of the wrong- 
doer diminished by the multitude of his fellows, but rather 
aggravated because he opposes his strength to its correction. 

To prevent the multitude of the ambitious from prevailing 
against the justice of God, not merely the divine laws but the 
laws of man are aimed and armed. The law and the prophets, 


11 Pers., Sat. iii, 23-4. 


300 John of Salisbury 


the Gospel and all the regulations of the Fathers call down 
punishment upon their audacity. Yet still they rise up in their 
pride against the Lord. “Blush, Sydon, for the sea speak- 
eth”; 12 and thou, oh clerk, how dost thou feel when a layman 
almost ignorant of the law, reproves thy ambition and restrains 
it? Marvel, oh prophet, when thy ass calls upon its rider to 
turn back, and confutes thy errors. The brute animal, the 
astounded man, behold the angel standing in the way with a 
drawn sword, that is to say with the sword of the spirit which 
underlies the letter; and dost thou yet blindly, in the midst 
of so much light from the Scriptures, rush on insanely to de- 
struction? Blush then, marvel, halt and draw back from the 
curse toward which thou art hurrying under the impulse of 
avarice; and thou who despisest Moyses and the prophets, _ 
hearken at least to the ass whom thou urgest forward with the 
spur of thy ambition. A miracle is needed; Balaam will not 
be plucked from destruction unless the ass should speak. Dost 
thou not blush that thou art thus blinded, thus brought low by 
unthinking ambition to the point where thou preferest the bray- 
ing of an ass to the prophetic oracles of God? Perhaps thou 
art terrified and made to tremble at the voice of the ass, but 
without feeling true compunction. Yet it is the vehicle of 
God’s word, and a gift from Him who alone kindles the fire 
of charity in the minds of His elect. From which it is clear 
that to no avail does one hear the ass if he despises the sound 
of the word of God. None the less, heed thou even the ass 
when he urges things which are profitable, since therein also 
speaks the Spirit for thy instruction. He is more quick than 
thou to see the angel forbidding thy unlawful steps, and he 
points him out to thee. The right way to mount to the honors 
of the Church, and the way which is to be avoided, are taught 
by the canons. Yet thou dost despise them because thou dost 


12 Ts, xxili, 4. 


Pepeuoriitous? II 5-9 301 


not see the angel standing in the way of the mandates of 
God, and holding a sword wherewith to kill thee. Along the 
same way advances the ass, that is to say a man stupid and 
slow in comparison with thee, and one who is urged by the spur 
of thy words and example to make them his law, and he sees 

the angel, becomes afraid, halts and announces to thee the 
counsel of God. He speaks in the nick of time; do thou fall 
down and worship as in the presence of a miracle, and treasure 
up each word of his and grave it on the tablets of thy heart. 


CHA‘PAE Ries 


OF THE LAWS OF SECULAR PRINCES WHEREBY COURTIERS AND 
OFFICIALS ARE EXCLUDED FROM ECCLESIASTICAL HONORS ,; 
AND BY WHAT EXAMPLES THE DATHANITES AND ABIRON- 
ITES STRIVE TO PREVAIL. 


Says the emperor Justinian: “Greatest among all the gifts 
bestowed by the supreme mercy of God are the priestly power 
and the power of the emperor, the one ministering in things 
divine, the other presiding over and displaying its diligence 
in human affairs: both proceed from one and the same source 
to improve the life of men. And therefore nothing will be 
so much an object of desire in the eyes of emperors as the purity 
of those who exercise the priestly office, since it is especially for 
them that priests send up continual supplications to God. Ac- 
cordingly if the priesthood is wholly blameless and enjoys the 
full confidence of God, and if the imperial power rightly and 
fittingly administers and improves the commonwealth entrusted 
to its care, there will result a certain beneficial harmony which 
will confer on the human race whatsoever is needful and profit- 
able. We therefore cherish the utmost solicitude regarding the 
true dogmas of God and the purity of the priesthood, believing 
that if these are preserved we shall by their means receive 
the greatest gifts of God and shall enjoy securely the things 
which we already have, and shall acquire the things which have 
not yet come to pass. All things are administered well and 
fittingly if the basis thereof is seemly and well-pleasing to 
God, We believe that this will result if the sacred rules and 

302 


Poorer aticus VI] 20 303 


observances are kept which have been handed down by the just, 
the praiseworthy, the venerable Apostles who beheld face to 
face the Word of God and were His servants, and which the 
holy fathers have observed and expounded. Therefore, follow- 
ing in all things the sacred regulations, we ordain that for all 
time hereafter when anyone is presented for episcopal ordina- 
tion, his life shall first be examined in accordance with the re- 
quirements of the holy apostle to determine whether it is hon- 
orable, blameless and wholly without reproach, and he must 
have a reputation among good men befitting a priest, and must 
not be promoted from the status of an official or curzalis.” * 

“Let not a man be changed straightway from a layman into 
a cleric and then after waiting a short time into a bishop; 
but let him be either one who has lived a celibate life from the 
beginning, or at least, if he be married, one whose wife came 
to him in the virgin state, and let him not have children who 
are illegitimate. Let any one who acts in aught contrary to 
these provisions be dropped from the priesthood, and the bishop 
who violates this law by ordaining such a man will be cut off 
from his office.” ? 

“Tet no one who is unlearned in the sacred dogmas be raised 
to the office of bishop; but let him first have either professed 
the monastic life, or have been a member of the clergy for 
not less than six months, and let him not cleave unto a wife.” ® 

“Tn addition we will permit no one contrary to the provision 
of law to receive such ordination while he has a wife.” * 


1 Justin., Novell. vi, praef, and c. 2. John seems to have misunderstood 
“curialis” and taken it to mean “courtier.” 

2 Justin., Novell. vi, c. i, §§2ff. John is here either paraphrasing or 
using a rather more free version of this Novel than those which have 
come into accepted usage. In the old Latin gloss or version printed 
in Osenbriiggen’s edition of the Novels, the word “odibiles” is coupled 
with “legi.’ The meaning is therefore “illegitimate.” For clerical op- 
position to marriages with widows, see H. C. Lea, “History of Sacerdotal 
Celibacy,’ 3rd ed., 1., 27. 

3 Ibid. §§ 6, 7. 4 Ibid. § 7. 


304 John of Salisbury 


“For as much as we seek for grace and glory in one who is 
to be ordained, we will punish the malice of any who brings an 
accusation against him and fails to sustain it. But if any 
should say that he knows of any improper act on the part of 
a candidate for ordination, let him not be deemed worthy to 
be ordained before there is a hearing of the complaint and he ~ 
is shown to be wholly innocent. If, after a complaint of this 
kind has been lodged, the ordaining authority does not permit 
an examination of the case to be made as required by law, 
but proceeds to rush the ordination through, let him know 
that his act will be treated as null and void, and that he who is 
ordained contrary to law will be dropped from the priesthood, 
and he who bestows ordination without an examination will 
likewise lose his priestly office.” ° 

To the same effect Leo: “A man attains to the episcopal 
dignity. by the authority of God only if he is promoted by the 
uncorrupted minds of men, by the unbought designation of 
election, and by the honest and sincere judgment of all. Let 
no one corruptly traffic in a priestly office for a price; let the 
consideration be how deserving a man is, not how much he is 
able to pay. For truly what place can be secure, and what 
cause can be kept inviolate if the venerable temples of God 
can be captured by money? What rampart shall we provide 
for purity or what wall of protection for good faith, if the 
accursed thirst for gold creeps into the venerable sanctuaries? 
In short, what can be safeguarded or free from danger if un- 
corrupted holiness is itself corrupted? Let the profane flame of 
avarice cease to menace the altars, and let criminal wickedness 
be repulsed from the holy entrances. Therefore, in our time 
let the chaste man and the humble man be chosen bishop, that 
by the purity of his own life he may purify all places whereto 
he goes. Let the prelate be ordained as the result not of a price 


5 Justin., Novell. vi, c. i, § 10. 


Porter aitcusoV IT: 2.0 305 


but of prayers, let him be so far removed from having solicited 
office that when besought to take it he must be forced to do 
so, when asked he refuses, when invited he flees away and hides 
himself. Let only the necessity of preserving his own blame- 
lessness prevail upon him. For surely a man is unworthy of 
priestly office if he was not ordained unwillingly ; since obviously 
whoever is discovered to have succeeded to the holy and vener- 
able seat of a prelate through the medium of money, or whoever 
is detected in accepting anything as the price of ordaining or 
electing another, deserves, on the analogy of a public crime, and 
indeed of lése majesté, to be proceeded against and degraded 
from his priestly office. We have therefore decreed not only 
that he shall be deprived of honor but condemned to perpetual 
infamy, so that all who are defiled by like crimes and equals in 
guilt shall be comrades in paying the same penalty.” © 

Likewise Justinian in his constitution “Novella”: ‘Before 
all else we decree that the rule shall be observed that no one 
shall be ordained a bishop by means of votes procured by any 
gift. If such a circumstance is present, let both the givers and 
receivers and their intermediaries be subjected to condemnation. 
And for the same reason let the giver and the receiver and the 
intermediary be removed from the honor of membership in 
the priesthood or clergy. Let the sum or object which was 
given for such a purpose be forfeited to the church of whose 
priestly office it was thereby sought to obtain possession. If the 
intermediary in such a transaction is a layman and if he received 
anything for his services, let him restore double the amount to 
the church.” 7 

Again: “It shall not be lawful for any head of a religious 
house, or any one discharging any other ecclesiastical trust, to 
give anything to him who has the appointing power or to any 
other person as the price of conferring the office upon him. 
-Whoever gives or receives anything for such a purpose, or is 


S-ivstim., Cod., 1, 3, 31. 7 Justin., Novell. cxxiii, c. 2. 


306 John of Salisbury 


the intermediary in such a transaction, shall be deprived of his 
membership in the clergy and the bribe shall be forfeited to the 
religious place in question. If the recipient or go-between is a 
layman, let him pay double the amount received. to such re- 
ligious place.” * 

Again: “We decree that when there shall be need to or-_ 
dain a bishop, the clergy shall straightway with the Holy 
Gospels before them make decrees fixing upon three persons, 
and saying in the decrees themselves that they have chosen 
these men not by reason of any gift or promise or from con- 
siderations of friendship, but because they know that they are 
men of orthodox faith and honorable life and are learned in 
letters, and that they have neither wife nor concubine nor 
children, and are neither curiales nor officials.” ® 

Again: “We forbid any curialis or official to be made a 
cleric, since from this cause much injury is done to the ven- 
erable clergy, except in cases where such a man has com- 
pleted not less than twenty-five years in the monastic life. Such 
men we order to be ordained upon condition of retaining for 
themselves only a fourth part of their property, the remainder 
being forfeited to the curia and the fisc, and provided that those 
who are thus admitted to the clergy have led a life befitting a 
monk,” 1° 

Again: “We decree that bishops, who are well pleasing in 
the sight of God, may, according to the rules of divine law, or- 
dain religious clerics after careful investigation, and also other 


8 Novell. cxxili, c. 16. 

9 Ibid. c. 1. John is here either paraphrasing, or else using a differ- 
ent Latin version of this Novel from those which have come into ac- 
cepted usage. Justinian’s text goes on to provide that of the three 
persons thus nominated, “melior creetur [episcopus] electione et judicio 
ejus que eos [t.e. episcopos]| creat.” For the significance of this Novel, 
and its effect on episcopal elections, see Hinschius, System des Kath- 
olischen Kirchenrechts, (Berlin 1878), 11, 514-5. 

10 Novell. cxxili, c. 15. 


meperaticus V Il. 20 307 


men of good reputation who know letters and are learned, but 
there are none whom we more delight to see in holy orders than 
men living in chastity or not cohabiting with wives.” ™ 

These are the precepts of secular princes. I cite them be- 
cause, although the doctors of the Church enlarge upon this 
subject at length, nevertheless since the standard which they 
set seems too lofty to maintain in practice, what they say tends 
accordingly to be held of small account. But he who does not 
heed even the secular enactments is more blind than Hipseas,’” 
and more deaf than the Dulichian oarsman,!? and deserves to 
be struck down and hurled into the deepest deep by the angel 
whom he despises. You have heard how Nadab and Abiu ** 
were consumed by their own fire and carried forth from the 
Tabernacle by the command of the Lord; but these men strive 
to burst into the temple of the Lord and into the very Holy 
of Holies against the prohibition of Moyses, that is to say 
against the prohibition of the law of the Lord. They are fol- 
lowed by a numerous progeny which fills the courtyard of the 
Lord’s House, and kindles an alien fire. They attempt to burn 
the forbidden incense, and contracting an alliance with the 
Datanites and Abironites,’’ they rise up against Moyses, di- 
viding the Church, throwing the priestly power into confusion, 
and stirring up sedition among the people, unless they are per- 
mitted to assume the priestly power themselves. For having 
won for themselves the favor of the secular powers, they assert 
that all things are opened to them of right, because (as they 
say) the prince is not subject to the laws, and what pleases 
the prince has the force of law. Since the people have con- 
ferred upon him and concentrated in him all their authority, 


11 Noy, vi, cc. 4, 5. PO TLOU a Obs tee tee OL. 

13 7, ¢,, Ulysses. 14 Lev. x, I ff. 

15 Num. xvi, 1 ff. The fate of these gentry, “whom the earth swal- 
lowed alive,” is promised to followers of anti-popes by the first decree 
of the Third Lateran Council of 1179, of which John of Salisbury was 
a member (Mansi, xxii, 218). 


308 John of Salisbury 


it is the crime of lése majesté, and a manifest subversion of 
government, to oppose him. Indeed it is the same thing as sac- 
rilege to doubt whether one whom the prince has chosen 1s 
worthy to be chosen; and a man does not escape the stigma, 
and indeed it is lucky for him if he escapes the penalty, of his 
temerity, who for any reason whatsoever undertakes to nullify 
the will of the prince. They believe that no laws are superior 
in authority to the civil laws. 

Anacarsis Cithica 1° has compared the latter to the webs of 
the spider, which catch flies and gnats but let birds and larger 
insects through; in the same manner the civil laws restrain the 
wills of people of the humbler sort but give way at once to 
the more powerful. For they do not exact of the latter the law- 
ful penalty of transgression or disobedience, but without even 
putting them to the question pass them by with studied neglect. 
Those who support the view that all things are lawtul for 
rulers also search out and bring forward the examples of ty- 
rants to sustain their thesis. Yet for the most part you will find 
that they were rulers of places where ancient custom prevails, 
even though contrary to reason or to the law. They recount 
how one tyrant thrust his servant or crony into this or that 
church without election, how another by menaces and confisca- 
tion compelled the election of some unknown or unworthy 
clerk, how another sold the Church of God openly, how still 
another compelled an Archbishop to consecrate a reprobate, 
how one drove bishops or monks into exile or forced them to 
remain in banishment after they had been driven out by others, 
how another burdened the Church and its property with base 
services, or tortured men of religion with shameful cruelty, 
or humiliated and persecuted the clergy, or introduced the jus- 
tice of wild beasts into the provinces, or stamped out the laws 
and canons from his territories, or imposed silence on the bish- 


16 See Val, Max. vii. 2. ext. 14. 


Peeecratitcus: VII: 2.0 309 


ops so that he might commit all the worst outrages with impunity 
and without any reproof, or long and obstinately vaunted him- 
self in pride against the Church of Rome, or guided his whole 
conduct not so much by any law of his own as by a perversion 
of all law, or in short was wont to identify law with his own 
good pleasure. 

The more fertile a man is in remembering such precedents and 
the more mischievous in executing iniquity, the more sincere is 
supposed to be his loyalty and the more effective his industry. 
But whoever in behalf of the truth of the faith or in defence 
of the purity of morals says aught concerning the divine law, 
will be at once branded as either superstitious or envious, or, 
what is the capital crime, hostile to the prince. If you should 
say that the fire which through seventy years of the Babylonish 
captivity had remained alive beneath the water, was at last 
quenched when Antiochus sold to Jason the office of high 
priest;** or (upon the testimony of blessed Gregory’) that 
pestilences and famines, upheavals of nations, clashes between 
kingdoms, and countless adversities come upon countries from 
the fact that ecclesiastical honors are bestowed for a price 
or by reason of human favor upon undeserving persons; if you 
should say that Oza was struck down by God because he 
presumed to put forth his hand upon the ark when it was 
shaken ;** if you say that Esias was silent during the reign of 
Ozia, the leprous king, and after the death of the latter saw 
God sitting exalted upon the throne;** if you say that the 
weight of the tabernacle rested solely on the shoulders and 
wagons of the Levites, or any other such things which are 
found in the law of God, it will be fortunate for you if you 
are not mutilated and thrust into prison, or banished into exile. 
A shout of fury will go up against you from all sides, and 
both the ambitious and their supporters will not scruple to 


+3 Grat., Decret., I, i, 1, c. 29 (Friedberg, i, 371). ; 
18 TI Sam. vi, 6, 7. 19 [I -Chron, xxvi, 16; Isa. vi, 1, 


310 John of Salisbury 


pass against you the severest sentence of condemnation. But 
one solace God will provide for you, namely that the conscience 
of every wise and God-fearing man 1s in agreement with your 
words. Thence it follows that by the authority of God these 
men’s judgment upon you will not prevail forever. For if 
they are to be believed, you will be adjudged a public enemy, 
as guilty of lése majesté. It will be said that you are bringing 
to nought the judgments of the public authority, and while 
you are exalting ecclesiastical liberty as a zealot for your own 
profession, you are subverting the wisdom of princes and schem- 
ing to make them appear foolish and contemptible. Better 
would it be by far that the diadem were torn from the head of 
the prince than that the good order of the chief and best part 
of the commonwealth, which is the part that is concerned with 
religion, should be destroyed at his pleasure. 


“Tt ig not necessarily private ends which inspire all in Rome 
Who prepare to go over to Pompey.” *° 


And perchance he offends against the wishes of private men 
too arrogantly who under the pretence of liberty for princes 
yearns to tyrannize. If any prince succumbs to a superstition of- 
this kind, he is without wisdom and falls short of the manhood 
of illustrious kings. 

David and all Israel, as the Book of Kings relates, played 
before the Lord on all manner of wood instruments, on harps, 
on psalteries, on timbrels, on sistra and on cymbals; though he 
did not lack one to taunt him for this course. For the aforesaid 
history proceeds: “And Micol, the daughter of Saul, coming 
out to meet David, said: ‘How glorious today was the king 
of Israel, uncovering himself before the handmaids of his 
servants; and was naked, as if one of the buffoons should be 
naked!’ And David said to Micol: ‘The Lord lives, and there- 


20 Lucan, Phars. ii, 564, 565. 


Pormerarcus Vb Pl) 20 311 


fore I shall play before the Lord who chose me above thy 
father and all his house, and exalted me to be ruler over the 
people of the Lord in Israel ; and I will play and make myself yet 
meaner than I have done, and I will be little in my own eyes, 
but as to the hand-maids of whom thou hast spoken, in their 
eyes shall I appear more glorious.’ And to Micol the daugh- 
ter of Saul no son was born to the day of her death.” 2" But 
“David sat as king of his house, and the Lord gave him rest 
on every side from all his enemies.”’?2, Do you see how dili- 
gently this story teaches that contempt of religion coupled with 
the arrogance of pride is punished, while on the other hand the 
devotion of faith and the practice of humility are rewarded? 
For David won the repose of a quiet reign, but Micol, in retri- 
bution for her wicked taunt, died childless and left no offspring 
of an illustrious race and a happy marriage. And rightly so, 
since Micol is interpreted to mean either “all water” or “forth 
from all.” Verily the counsel of the untaught multitude, which 
follows the popular judgment, enjoys neither the pleasaunce nor 
the memory of a good fruit. But on the other hand when you 
listen to the proud counsel of the magnates you will never sus- 
pect that Micol died without offspring. For you will think 
with amazement that all are sons of Micol, and that their souls, 
if not their bodies, issued from her vine-branch. And _ that 
you may the more easily persuade yourself hereof, they that 
strive to bring to nought the divine authority to the end that 
they may establish their own, either die without children, or 
leave children behind them who are degenerate and mean- 
spirited. Beyond doubt whoever suppresses the liberty of the 
Church is punished either in his own person or in his offspring. 
Thus the children lose even what properly is theirs, together 
with the things which their father’s impiety seized for their sake. 


21]T Sam. vi, 20-23. 22 TI Sam. vii, I. 


CHAP TE Ries Ls 


OF HYPOCRITES WHO SEEK TO HIDE THE STAIN OF AMBITION 
UNDER A FALSE PRETENCE OF RELIGION. 


Though the insolence of the populace or the arbitrary license 
of rulers can be held in check by the precepts of the law and 
the divine institutions, yet ambition can never be wholly quelled. — 
For if it does not dare to show itself publicly, yet it gains en- — 
trance like a creeping thing, stealthily and by fraud. If it 
does not force open the gates of the Church by bribes, if they — 
are not unbarred by its own violence or by that of others, it 
takes refuge in the arts of its own falsehood. It pretends to — 
detest with the whole freedom of the Spirit all things which — 
infringe freedom, all things which violate the statutes and de- 
crees and are contrary to religion. You would think with 
amazement that Synon? had returned to deceive the simple- 
minded and the credulous. For the man of ambition simulates 
and dissimulates, and all the while wears the cunning fox under 
his heart; he seems more emancipated than any Stoic, more 
austere than Cato. Meanwhile, besides, he is more simple than 
Paul, the teacher of the gentiles, and more anxious; more fer- 
vid than Peter; for him Christ is life and lucre is death; and 
he glories in nought save the cross of Christ, beneath which his 
body is ever bowed down to the end that his spirit may attain 
salvation, yearning only for the moment of dissolution that he 
may be with Christ. Therefore he mortifies the vices and de- 
sires of the flesh, and, although living in the world of men, is 


1Verg., Aen. ii, 57 ff. 
. 312 


Pearseraivous Vill. 21 214 


not as are other men, but leads the life of an angel and converses 
with the skies. Men of this kind fast continually, pray cease- 
lessly and in a loud voice that the stranger may hear them, 
clothe themselves in coarse and filthy raiment and thunder at 
the populace. They criticize the clergy, urge the amendment of 
their morals upon princes and powers, and acquire for them- 
selves a reputation of uprightness by slandering the lives of 
others. In order that fraud may grow strong under the cloak 
of honesty, they seek out some society of praiseworthy men, 
submit to its severe vows, make a display of difficult virtues and 
strive more intimately to obtain for themselves all possible grace 
and other more human things. Thus they proclaim themselves 
followers in the footsteps of Basil, Benedict, Augustine, or if 
this seems not enough, of the Apostles and Prophets; they put 
on the garb of Carthusians, Cistercians, Cluniacs, and those that 
assume the dignity of Canons glory in tunics of wool and the 
skins of lambs. Thus they come in sheep’s clothing, but within 
they are ravening wolves; but, as the Lord saith, they shall be 
revealed most plainly by their fruits. Not by the duplicity of 
such men is the glory of true religion diminished. For it is 
clear to all without any doubt that the names which they pro- 
fess, and whose duties they promise to perform, are names of 
the highest honor and purest faith. The sincerity of their piety 
stands so clearly proved that it fears the darts of no reproach; 
verily the Carthusians are everywhere famous as the chief tri- 
umphers over avarice; the Cistercians follow to the letter the 
precepts and footsteps of blessed Benedict, who is acknowledged 
to have been full of the spirit of all the just; the Cluniacs have 
carried the true pattern of religion to many provinces. And as 
for the Canons, it should be the fullest measure of praise that 
all clerics should imitate their rule. The hermits can point 
to the Baptist of our Saviour and to the sons of the prophets as 
the founders of their way of life. The Brothers of the Temple, 
following the example of the Machabeans, lay down their lives 


314 John of Salisbury 


for their brethren. The “Xenodochi,” or ‘“Hospitalers,” fol- 
low in the footsteps of the Apostles, and, aspiring to the pin- 
nacle of perfection, obey Christ most faithfully in that they 
live blamelessly and spend all that they have upon the poor. — 
Among all of these, however, are found both worthy and un- 
worthy, men who are sincere and reprobates as well, and not on © 
that account is the sincerity of their piety or professions sullied. 
For what profession is there, or what fellowship have we ever 
read of, into which some stain has not crept? We read of the 
apostate angel, of parricide among the earliest brothers, of the 
unfaithful prophet, of the traitor apostle, of disloyal disciples 
of Christ, but not on that account is the purity of the angels 
who stood firm defiled, or the fellowship of loving brothers 
rendered less holy, or the gift of prophecy among the elect made _ 
blameworthy, or the authority of the apostles brought into con- 
tempt among the faithful, or the teaching of Christ disgraced — 
by the various errors of those who depart from it. And so, 
even as the angel of Satan transforms himself into an angel 
of light, and pretended apostles aspire to apostolic authority — 
rather than to the apostolic life, in the same manner hypocrites 
take refuge in the pride of the Pharisees, “making broad their 
phylacteries and enlarging the fringes of their garments,” ? 
but will not touch with their finger the things which are written 
in the law of God except to the end of being seen by men, 
from whom they expect a reward of honor or some other re-— 
muneration. It is for this reason that they make a display of 
their ascetic pallor of face, acquire the habit of heaving deep 
sighs, are suddenly flooded with insincere and artful tears, go 
with bowed heads, half-shut eyes, short hair or with their head 
almost wholly shaven, speak in a low voice, move their lips 
continually as if in prayer, walk with stealthy tread and a kind 
of rythmical step, are ragged and covered with dirt, and trade 


2 Matt. xxiii, 4, 5. 


Prereraticus* Vill: 2t ars 


on the filthiness of their garments and their affected meanness, 
to the end that they may climb the higher in proportion as they 
seem the more zealously to have cast themselves down into the 
lowest place and to the end that they may be forced against their 
will to become great by seeming of their own accord to be- 
little themselves. These are the men who if any stain adheres 
to the Church on its pilgrimage through the World are sure to 
reveal it to the public gaze that they themselves may be seen 
by all to be free from stain. ‘These are the men who preach 
that benefices which have not yet been conferred on holy men 
should be taken away from them. These are the men who urge 
princes to deprive churches of their lawful rights because of the 
vices of individuals. They rob churches of tithes and _ first 
fruits and do not scruple to accept churches from the hands 
of laymen without the bishops’ having been consulted. These 
are the men who filch ancestral acres from the owners who are 
born to them, reduce villages and hundreds to a solitude, and 
convert all things that are near them to their own uses, bring- 
ing destruction to churches or turning them to secular uses. 
The building which was once a house of prayer is made either 
a shed for cattle or a workshop for a herdsman or a wool weaver. 

And indeed they commit with impunity even graver wrongs 
and do not hesitate as it were to toss on the horns of the double 
power * the Church in whose bosom they repose and by whose 
shade they are protected. For they fly for refuge to the Roman 
Church, which as the mother of piety is ever wont to procure 
peace for religion. They implore its aid, pray for the shield 
of its protection that they may not be injured by the malice 
of any, and on the pretext of being able to have ampler main- 
tenance and therefore greater ability to perform the duty of 
charity, they fortify themselves with apostolic immunity from 
the payment of tithes. They go still further, and to procure 


3j.¢., the temporal power and the spiritual power, imperium and 
sacerdotium. 


316 John of Salisbury 


the license of greater impunity, get themselves exempted alto- 
gether from the jurisdiction of the churches, and cause them- 
selves to be received as special children of the Roman Church; 
with the result that while they may bring suit in the court of 
the defendant anywhere, they cannot be sued save at Rome or 
Jerusalem. Then they call upon the aid of the secular powers 
and promise to the latter the divine favor in return for support- 
ing them. And so they make themselves mediators between 
God and men and receive into their societies those who are in 
need of indulgence or pardon, hear their confessions, and usurp- 
ing the keys of the Church or filching them from Peter, presume 
to bind and loose, and, against the prohibition of the Lord, lay 
their sickle to a harvest which does not belong to them. In 
return for the receipt of a favor or a reward, they too lightly — 
absolve the rich and powerful, and, assuming on their own 
shoulders the sins of others, drive out into tunics or mourning 
garments the offences which such sinners charge themselves with 
having committed. They stretch the mercy of the Lord who 
desires none to perish, and proclaim that it stands open wide to 
all penitents and is closed only against those who are lacking 
in hope. Thus they often encourage those who are already too 
hotly and deeply implicated in crime, to sin hopefully; with the 
reservation, however, that they always demand something for 
themselves as the price of the redemption of such sinners, and 
boldly promise pardon on the ground that as water quenches 
fire, so alms extinguish sin. Penitence is never too late if it is 
real. Therefore they acquiesce in evil living, and bidding for 
popularity by flattery and complacency, stop up ‘the ears of 
men so that they heed not the chiding of the prelates. In ad- 
dition they smell out rumors, rejoice in commotions, pry into 
the secrets of those who are at odds with one another and re- 
port them first to one side, then to the other, currying favor 
with each, disloyal to both, seeming the better fitted for such 
work because the garb of religion which they wear renders 


Preeeer cious. Vili. 21 419 


them less suspected of it. They are believed to be the only ones 
who know what is the best policy in the palace, in the market- 
place, on the farms, in the camps, because those who continually 
meddle in all these arts seem to cultivate in all of them a pro- 
ficiency excelling others. If the elders assemble in the curia 
or the citizens in the market-place, or the soldiers for a cam- 
paign, in short if any council or synod is convoked, this retir- 
ing and recluse monkish brood will rush into the chief seats and 
seize them. You might suppose that the bolts of all the cloisters 
were broken open, the almshouses and hospices all emptied, and 
that from all the holy places veritable swarms of ccenobites 
had poured forth. To such extremes do this type of monkish 
religionists go in thrusting themselves into crowds and public 
spectacles. They usurp the first seats, the best beds, the first 
salutations, and if you do not yield these to them, they vehe- 
mently complain that their dignity is insulted. If you speak 
against them in aught, you will be called an enemy of religion 
and an assailer of the true gospel. And so you must bear 
patiently any injuries and wrongs that you suffer from men 
who seem to have obtained from apostolic and royal authority 
a license to do all things that they please; for this license is 
believed to be but justly due to their merits. 

Forsooth “he that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance 
of God” ;* and for my own part I do not believe that apostolic 
or royal majesty should be resisted. I only marvel, however, 
speaking with all due respect for the faithful, how it is that 
they do not blush to usurp or withhold tithes and rights which 
belong to others. Perchance they will say, “We are men of 
religion.” But surely to pay tithes is a part of religion, and 
only a religious people are required by God to pay them. “Yes, 
but the men who exact them are irreligious men.” But who 
appointed you to be their judge? “Who art thou that judgest 


4 Rom. xiii, 2. 


318 John of Salisbury- 


the servants of another? To his own lord he standeth or 
falleth. He shall be made to stand.”*® But they say, “We are 
safely fortified with the apostolic privilege by virtue whereof 
we retain the tithes of our labors and of the young of our 
animals.” To be sure all things are lawful for the apostles ; but 
all things are by no means expedient for. followers of the 
apostles. Grant that they freely conferred this license upon 
you; ask yourselves whether you did right to séek ity ore 
sooth he who asks leave not to do what he ought to do is not 
of his own free will obedient to justice. Did Abel not have 
respect unto God in the matter of the firstlings of his flock? 
Cain offered the fruits of the earth; and rightly so because 
they were owed to God, but he committed a sin by making an 
unjust division since in the division he subtracted somewhat. 
His gifts found greater favor who shared with God the offspring 
of animals; and perchance offerings of animals are more justly 
rendered up since they are brought forth without labor or care 
on our part; there is more of labor in sewing and reaping the 
fruits of the earth. ‘Men are not compelled to give of what 
belongs to them.” Who, pray, is required to render an account 
of the labors of others? Why should I say more? By many 
and long-drawn-out pleadings they strive to build up an argu- 
ment that their conduct does not forbid others to pay tithes, 
since they themselves are immune from paying them solely 
because they are so religious that in this respect they can dero- 
gate from the ordinance of God, and are licensed to be less grate- 
ful for the grace of God in proportion as they experience more 
fully its benefits; for things which proceed wholly from 
the grace of God, like the offspring of animals or things which 
originate spontaneously, are not counted as subject to religion. 

At first, while religion rejoiced in poverty and poured out for 
the necessities or use of others the very bowels of its own need- 


5 Rom. xiv, 4. 


Pertorauitzcus Vl 27 319 


iness, the monastic professions became vested with privileges 
which, after the necessity for them had passed away and their 
charity grew cold, are now regarded rather as instruments of 
avarice than of religion. For, lo, all these privileged persons 
seek their own advantage, and Jesus, who is preached in public, 
is either altogether absent or else kept hidden in the background! 
Hence it is that blessed Adrian when he saw these privileges 
being thus turned into a means of avarice, not wishing to 
revoke them altogether, yet restricted their scope by the limita- 
tion that what such men may withhold from the fruits of 
their labor should be interpreted solely with reference to lands 
newly brought under cultivation after lying fallow. For thus 
they will be able to enjoy their privileges without serious in- 
fringement of the rights of others. Yet there is one thing 
which even so great a father has somehow consented to endure; 
and since it is contrary to the canons of the fathers, it is marvel- 
lous in our eyes. For the Knights of the Temple by his favor 
and permission claim and enjoy the right to preside over 
churches, hold benefices through vicars, and thus, after a man- 
ner of speaking, presume to administer the blood of Christ to 
the faithful although they are men whose profession is chiefly 
to shed human blood. Not that I would exactly call them men 
of blood, since almost alone among mankind the warfare which 
they wage is legitimate warfare; and David was not called a 
man of blood because of the legitimate wars which he waged, 
but because of Uria, whose blood he shed culpably. But it is 
expressly provided in the canons that no capacity in ecclesiastical 
matters shall attach to laymen although they have taken religious 
vows. It would certainly seem a mark of true religion if men 
would refrain from the management of that which by the 
prohibition of the Lord it is not lawful for them even to 
touch. Nor do I think that the duty of hospitality ought to be 
performed from the spoils of rapine—even though the property 
plundered belong not to churches nor even to members of the 


320 John of Salisbury 


faith,—for God hates the bread of sacrilege, and disdains sac- 
rifices which are offered up from blood, and as often as He is 
invoked by means of such, closes His ears that they may not 
be open to the prayers of such as offer them. 

Of these acts, which in fraud of the justice of God are done 
by such men, it is not my present intention to speak ; though it 


is altogether wrong that men, lured by the love of money, 


should open churches which have been closed by bishops. They 
celebrate the divine mysteries for those who have been sus- 
pended, they bury the dead whom the Church has cast out, 
and by what they do once during the year they cause the mis- 
guided people to be deaf during the whole year to the voice 
of the Church; and the man who cannot be punished scorns to 
be bettered. Thus they go about among the churches, trumpet- 
ing the merits of their orders, carrying absolution for crimes, 
and meanwhile, corrupting the Word of God, they preach a 
new gospel, which they proclaim by living not for grace but 
for a price, for pleasure and not for the truth, and finally, 
when they come together in their secret lairs, after preaching 
virtue by day, they shake their buttocks in nightly toil and 
waywardness. If this is the path to Christ, then vain and false 
indeed is the doctrine of the Fathers which has shown that 
straight and narrow is the way which leads a man to lite. 
When such men bring shame and dishonor upon the Church, 
none are more justly disturbed than the truly religious men upon 
whose heads the consequences fall. The people are stirred 
up to wrath, but the religious orders are more justly embittered 
against this cancer of hypocrisy. For the evil is charged to 
the account not of the hypocrites themselves but of the Cister- 
cians or Cluniacs or others whose garb these windbags and 
ventriloquists have put on, and whose life they belie. For the 
monks who are simply and truly religious, and who keep their 
vows, are free from this wickedness. No life is more faithful, 
none more simple, none more blessed than the life of the men 


SOU RR ne 


feeeecrarecus Vill. 27 221 


who spend their days humbly in the cloisters, rejoicing in self- 
effacement, obeying their superiors in all subjection and rever- 
ence, not seeking for power under the pretext of obedience, 
nor coveting the opportunity of cozening, roaming abroad and 
idling, but possessing their vessels in sanctification and honor, 
holding themselves in readiness silently and in the salutary 
patience of God, wholly averse from detraction and murmuring, 
receiving in peace from the mouth of the Lord the word which 
is able to save their souls, holding pleasant converse with God, 
and like earthly angels ignorant of all the confusion and strife 
of the world. If there is aught which seems to sadden them, 
it is to be attributed to their affection for their brethren, since 
even the angels in heaven somehow take compassion upon our 
lapses, and rejoice together over a single sinner brought to re- 
pentance. It is hard indeed to imitate the philosophers in this 
age when virtue is exhausted, and Astraea, deserting men, 
has returned again to the skies;® but infinitely superior to the 
virtue of the philosophers is the life of the monks of the cloister, 
or, perhaps I should better think, it is itself the best and surest 
philosophy. And those who go forth in humility and lowliness 
to procure wherewithal to satisfy the needs of the monks, and 
who faithfully busy themselves about this work, lead a life 
which is even more useful if not more secure, and are worthy 
of the highest praise and reverence; nor are they in any sense 
to be included in the troublemaking faction of the Epicureans 
or hypocrites. For hypocrites are properly to be grouped with 
the followers of Epicurus, who preach philosophy and in practice 
serve their own self-will. When they encourage contention, 
abuse their privileges, are slaves to cupidity, neglect altogether 
the duties of charity, seek their own glory, do they not walk 
after the way of the flesh, though they falsely pretend to be men 
of the spirit? Deservedly awaiting the destruction of the flesh, 


6 Ov., Metam. i, 149, 150. 


322 John of Salisbury 


they are destined to be partakers of Gehenna along with him 
who is also a spirit, but who, swollen with vain glory, desired to 
be equal with or greater than even the Most High, and therefore 
was cast down and hurled headlong into the lake of eternal 
damnation. Verily they are insane who advance by this path, 
and more miserable than all the gentiles, because they are de-_ 
prived both of the goods of this present life and also of the life 
eternal ; and the more so since He who for the sake of sinners en- 
dured sin to be done, and showed Himself the friend of pub- 
licans and harlots, yet refused to live at peace with hypocrites 
who had no need of His justice. That is plain to all who 
study carefully the debates which He had with the Pharisees. 
Yet these men, imitating the Pharisees, strive to attain the chief 
places. 


Poe PIER XX V 


OF THE LOVE AND PURSUIT OF LIBERTY; AND OF THOSE OF OLD 
TIME WHO PATIENTLY BORE WITH FREE SPEAKING; AND OF 
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GIBE AND A TAUNT. 


Liberty means judging everything freely in accordance with 
one’s individual judgment, and does not hesitate to reprove what 
it sees opposed to good morals. Nothing but virtue is more 
splendid than liberty, if indeed liberty can ever properly be 
severed from virtue. For to all right-thinking men it is clear 
that true liberty issues from no other source. Wherefore, since 
all agree that virtue is the highest good in life, and that it alone 
can strike off the heavy and hateful yoke of slavery, it has 
been the opinion of philosophers that men should die, if need 
arose, for the sake of virtue, which is the only reason for living. 
But virtue can never be fully attained without liberty, and the 
absence of liberty proves that virtue in its full perfection 1s 
wanting. Therefore a man is free in proportion to the measure 
of his virtues, and the extent to which he is free determines 
what his virtues can accomplish; while, on the other hand, it is 
the vices alone which bring about slavery, and subject a man to 
persons and things in unmeet obedience; and though slavery 
of the person may seem at times the more to be pitied, in reality 
slavery to the vices is ever far the more wretched. And so what 
is more lovely than liberty? And what more agreeable to a man 
who has any reverence for virtue? We read that it has been 
the impelling motive of all good princes ; and that none ever trod 
liberty under foot save the open foes of virtue. The jurists 
know what good laws were introduced for the sake of liberty, 

323 


324 John of Salisbury 


and the testimony of historians has made famous the great 
deeds done for love of it. Cato drank poison, pierced himself 
with his sword, and that no delay might prolong life on terms 
which he deemed ignoble, he thrust in his hand to widen the 
wound, and poured out his noble blood, that he might not see 
Cesar reigning. Brutus set on foot civil wars to save the city 
from slavery; and that seat of empire preferred rather to bear 
the wretched afflictions of perpetual war than to endure a lord, 
though of the mildest character. I pass on to the weaker sex. 
The wives of the Teutons, because of the value they set upon 
their chastity, besought Marius after his victory that they might 
be presented as a gift to the Vestal Virgins, promising that they 
would abstain from all unchastity ; and when their prayers were 
not heeded, on the following night they ended their lives by 
strangling themselves in order not to become slaves or suffer 
loss of their chastity. If I wished to recall individual instances 
of this kind, time would run out before the examples were ex- 
hausted. The practice of liberty is a notable thing and dis- 
pleasing only to those who have the character of slaves. 

Things which are done or spoken freely avoid the fault of 
timidity on the one hand and of rashness on the other, and so 
long as the straight and narrow path is followed, merit praise 
and win affection. But when under the pretext of liberty rash- 
ness unleashes the violence of its spirit, it properly incurs re- 
proach, although, as a thing more pleasing in the ears of the 
vulgar than convincing to the mind of the wise man, it often 
finds in the indulgence of others the safety which it does not owe 
to its own prudence. Nevertheless, it is the part of a good and 
wise man to give a free rein to the liberty of others and to ac- 
cept with patience the words of free speaking, whatever they 
may be. Nor does he oppose himself to its works so long as 
these do not involve the casting away of virtue. Tor since each 
virtue shines by its own proper light, the merit of tolerance is 
resplendent with a very special glory. 


fommperiti cus Vill 25 25 


Once a certain man of Privernum, when asked how the cap- 
tives from his city would keep the peace if they were granted 
amnesty, replied to the Roman consul: “If you grant them an 
advantageous peace, they will keep it forever ; if a disadvantage- 
ous one, they will not keep it long.” By these bold words, freely 
spoken, it came to pass that the citizens of Privernum obtained 
not only pardon for their rebellion, but the benefits of Roman 
citizenship besides, because one man of them had dared to speak 
out thus boldly in the Senate. On another occasion a certain 
Philip used his liberty to speak against the senatorial order, and 
before the rostrum he censured their inactivity, saying that for 
his part he thought that another Senate was needed ; but not even 
by this could the gravity of the senators be shaken, nor the 
presence of mind of the consul Philip be disturbed, when the ac- 
cused, upon whom he bade one of his lictors to lay hands, replied 
to him: “Philip, to me you are not comporting yourself like a 
consul, since in your eyes I'am not a senator.” ! 

Pompey the Great, among others, was especially notable for 
this virtue. Once when Gneius Piso was conducting a proceed- 
ing against Mallius Crispus, and saw the latter escape, thanks to 
Pompey, though he was clearly guilty, Piso, carried away by the 
impulsiveness of youth, charged the mighty patron of his op- 
ponent with many and serious crimes. Being thereupon asked 
by him why he did not lay an accusation against him [and his 
sureties|,? he answered, “Give sureties to the republic that if 
you are summoned to answer, you will not commence a civil 
war, and I will bring your case before the judges sooner than 
that of Mallius.”’ Thus in the same proceeding he took on two 


1 The sense of this passage is confused because John has misunder- 
stood his source, Val. Max. vi, 2, 2. According to Valerius the Philip 
who made the disparaging remark was the consul, and he ordered a 
lictor to lay hands on a senator who objected. It was this senator who 
made the witty reply to the consul. 

2 The word “predes” seems due to a corruption of the text of John’s 
source, Val. Max., vi, 2, 4. | 


326 John of Salisbury 


defendants, Mallius because of the accusation which he had 
brought against him, Pompey by reason of the liberty he had 
taken against the latter, and prosecuted one of them for the sake 
of the law, the other for the profession which was his only re- 
source. Gneius Lentulus Marcellinus, the consul, when he com- 
plained in the assembly of the excessive power of Pompey 
the Great, and the people had signified their assent byicad 
loud shout, said to them, “Applaud, citizens, while you may ; 
for soon when Pompey puffs himself up you will no longer be 
permitted to applaud.” ‘Thus was the power of a leading 
citizen attacked in those days with impunity, from some quarters 
by envious carping, from others by wretched lamentation. Once 
when he had his thigh bound up with a white bandage, Favonius 
said to him, “It makes no difference in what part of the body 
the diadem is worn”; meaning to reproach his royal position by 
cavilling at a little rag. But he, not altering his countenance in 
either sense, took care neither to seem pleased at the recognition 
of his power by assuming a proud front, nor to confess anger by 
a cloudy one. Again, when he taunted Helvius Formianus, 
the son of a freedman, with having come up from the under- 
world to accuse Lucius Libo, the friend of Pompey, Helvius 
said: “I come from the underworld to be the accuser of Libo; 
but while I sojourned there, 1 saw countless innocent souls of 
every age and both sexes complaining bitterly against you,— 
souls whom you did foully condemn by means of this great 
power of yours which is insupportable to good men”; and 
thereupon, within the hearing of all, he rehearsed the whole 
catalogue of the blameworthy and wicked deeds of Pompey. 
And so it was at one and the same time the boldest, and yet the 
safest, act to speak ill of Pompey; whence it came to pass that 
Deiphilus, the tragedian, in the midst of acting a play, pointed 
with his hand to Pompey before all the people, and said, “Great 
is our misery.” There is another story that when the consul 
Gaius Carbo bade the people of Placentia give hostages to him, 


Poltcraticus VII 25 Oy, 


Marcus Castricius, fired by the spirit of liberty, yielded neither 
to threats nor to force, but when the consul said that he had 
swords, he replied, “Yes, but I have years.’’ Servius Galba, 
who had assumed an obligation on behalf of Pompey, when he 
was cited into court said, “Gaius Cesar, I once bound myself to 
pay money on behalf of your former son-in-law Pompey during 
his third consulship, on which account I am now sued. What 
shall I do? Must I pay?” And by openly and publicly up- 
braiding him for the sale of the goods of Pompey, he merited 
to be removed from before the judgment seat; but that great 
man, whose heart was milder than mercy itself, ordered Pom- 
pey’s debt to be paid out of his own treasury. 

Pisistratus, the tyrant of Athens, when his wife urged him to 
sentence to capital punishment a youth who, inflamed with love | 
of the tyrant’s daughter, had kissed her in a public street, re- 
plied: “If we slay those who love us, what shall we do to those 
who hate us?” A saying which was worthier of a free citizen 
than of a tyrant, and one which expressed a praiseworthy toler- 
ance of the insult to his daughter and a tolerance even more 
praiseworthy of the insult to himself. The same Pisistratus, 
when at a banquet he was reviled with endless taunts by his 
friend Trasippus, preserved his self-control and refrained from 
words of wrath, and though Trasippus in his drunken fury had 
spat in his face, he restrained his sons and family from taking 
vengeance, and on the following day when the man came to him 
as a suppliant and voluntarily begged to die for his fault, he 
gave him his full confidence and restored him to their former 
intimacy. Once the Senate proceeded to assign the province 
of Spain to two citizens of the noblest birth, but of very un- 
equal fortunes. Servius Sulpicius, a man of humble station but 
accustomed to use the utmost liberty of speech, happened to be 
present, and when the people would have given their assent to 
the act of the Senate, he spoke out, saying, “In my opinion 
neither of these men should be sent, because one of them has 


328 John of Salisbury 


nothing at all, the other can never get enough”; being of opinion 
that poverty and avarice equally are an evil schoolmistress of 
arbitrary mis-government. On another occasion an ambassador 
of the Cinnii, who were in arms against the Roman empire, 
could have angered the Roman consul Brutus, the commander 
in Lusitania, by the sharpness of his speech, had Brutus not 
been a Roman, for that nation beyond all others was ever fond 
of moderation; for the Cinnii having been invited to buy their 
liberty, their ambassador said that their ancestors had bequeathed 
to them steel wherewith to defend their city, but not gold where- 
with to buy their freedom from a greedy commander. Pas- 
chelius Junius, a man of the utmost independence and of great 
knowledge, and famous both at home and abroad, but exclusively 
absorbed in the study of philosophy, when asked to what he 
owed such freedom of saying exactly what he pleased replied, 
“To two things which men abhor, old age and childlessness ; 
for what has a childless old man to fear?” Pirrus once asked 
some persons who at a banquet in Tarentum had held language 
scarcely respectful concerning himself, whether what he had 
heard of them was true. Whereupon one of them answered, 
“Tf our wine had not given out, the things which were reported 
to you would have been a joke and mere child’s play in com- 
parison with the things we would have gone on to say.” This 
witty excuse of drunkenness, and such a simple confession of 
the truth, turned the anger of the tyrant into laughter. 

The right to be included among men of free and independent 
spirit belongs to that woman of barbarian blood who, mourning 
for the havoc wrought by King Philip, said, “I would appeal 
my condemnation from Philip drunk to Philip sober.” For thus — 
she shocked him from drunken yawning, and, bringing him 
back again to sober self-possession, compelled him to re-examine 
her case more carefully and render a juster judgment. A cer- 
tain woman of Syracuse daily besought the gods at the hour of 
morning with solitary prayers for the safety of the oppressive 


Hoorn ious VIL 2.58 329 


and insufferable tyrant Dionisius. When this came to his 
knowledge, marvelling at such a display of unmerited good-will 
toward himself, he called the woman to him, and asked her 
why, or for what good deed of his, she did this thing. She re- 
plied: “I have a good reason for what I am doing. For when 
I was a girl we had a grievous tyrant and I desired that we might 
be rid of him. But when he was slain, one even more horrid 
and abominable seized the citadel; and I set great store by the 
ending of his rule also. You succeeded him, and we have 
found you a yet more cruel ruler than the two who went before 
you. So I fear that if you too are taken, a still worse will 
succeed you, and therefore I offer up my own head for your 
safety.” And Dionisius, although the most ruthless of men, 
blushed to punish such clever audacity. 

What indeed will be safe or secure if even the virtues, among 
which the spirit of liberty and independence holds almost the 
leading place, are punished? Therefore the Romans, just as 
they excelled all other peoples, so showed themselves more 
tolerant than all others of criticism; to the point indeed, that 
while it should be studiously avoided at banquets and on all oc- 
casions of a not strictly sober character, yet whoever shuns and 
fears it when it is just and fairly meant, causes himself to ap- 
pear ignorant of sobriety. For even if criticism carries open 
or covert malice, to bear it is in the eyes of wise men a far finer 
thing than to seek to punish it. Therefore, to indulge in gibes 
and taunts against the possessors of great power is rather a 
wanton abuse of liberty than a thing proper and lawful in 
itself. 

A gibe, according to Eustachius in his book of Saturnalia, is a 
criticism which carries a direct affront and insult. A taunt is a 
covert thrust, because it is often veiled with guile and witty 
politeness, so that the words appear to mean one thing and really 

imply another ; nor is it always carried to the point of bitterness, 
but is sometimes sweet in the ears of those against whom it is 


330 John of Salisbury 


pointed. This is the variety which is most frequently used by 
the clever and polite, especially at table or over the wine-cups, 
where it becomes a ready provocative to anger. For as even a 
light touch will push over the edge a man who stands upon a 
precipice, so one who is soaked and stained with wine will be 
excited to fury by even a slight injury. Therefore at the ban- 
quet table special care should be used to refrain from the taunt 
which contains a hidden insult. For sayings of this kind strike 
nearer home than out-and-out gibes, just as curved hooks take a 
firmer hold than straight sword-blades, particularly because such 
sayings move the hearers to laughter, from which token of seem- 
ing assent the insult is all the more keenly felt. An example of 
a direct gibe is the following: “Have you forgotten how you 
used to sell pickled fish?” But a taunt, wherein, as has been 
said, the malice is concealed, is after this fashion: “We all 
remember the time you cheated yourself by a claw’s length.” 
The same thing in substance is said in both cases, but the gibe is 
where the attempt to humiliate is open and undissembled ; the 
taunt is where it must be read between the lines. Taunts are 
less sharp, like the bites of a toothless animal. As for example 
the saying of Tully about the consul whose consulship lasted for 
only one day: “We have always had priests of the Day; now 
we have consuls of a day”; or another saying of his at the ex- 
pense of the same victim: “Our friend Canius is indeed a most 
vigilant consul, never having slept once during his term of 
office’; and when Canius complained that he had not visited 
him during his consulship, “No,” said he, “I was on my way, 
but night overtook me.” 

Regarding the use of gibes and taunts and their relation to 
civility, something will be said in the sequel ; * for the present let 
*t suffice to have shown that it is permissible to criticize what 
should rightly be amended. But I must add to what I have 
already said, and as a sort of tail-piece to this book, one story 


8 Bk. viii, c. 10, not included in this translation. 


Pueeeerotious VIT 25 oe 


about the taunts of Alexander: When King Darius after mak- 
ing test of his valor in one battle and then a second one, of- 
fered him the portion of his kingdom reaching to Mount Taurus, 
as well as his daughter in marriage and a million talents in 
_ money, and when Parmenion, a great man among the followers 
of Alexander, had said to him that if he were Alexander, he 
would accept these terms, Alexander replied: “Yes, and if I 
were Parmenion, I should do the same’; thus silently criticiz- 
ing the faint-heartedness of his counsellor by a speech befitting 
his own two victories, and meriting that he should be honored 
with a third, as afterwards came to pass. 

Therefore, in order to preserve liberty and out of regard for 
it, it has always been permissible for a free man to speak to 
persons concerning their vices ; since there is a rule of law which 
permits the free expression of the truth, and during the month 
of December indulges even slaves with this liberty against their 
masters so long as they speak only the truth. During that 
month, without asking leave and as a thing belonging to them 
of right, they may whet their tongues and without fear of pun- 
ishment find fault with whatever has irked them during the 
entire year, bringing their complaints and accusations in the 
open, with the restriction, however, that after the expiration of 
the Saturnalia they shall not overstep their privilege to the ex- 
tent of accusing their masters or patrons. Iam therefore taking 
advantage for myself of this December liberty, and obedient to 
your commands, am criticizing what both you* and I find ob- 
jectionable, placing my reliance on the general privilege con- 
ferred on all by the law, and not deeming it necessary to crave 
special permission in respect of utterances which are designed to 
serve the public advantage, and which have already met with 
your own approval. 


47.¢., Thomas Becket, to whom the Policraticus is dedicated. 


Here ends the Seventh Book 


oe : Qa . Fs 

s z a : ae =, 
<x 

ae : 3 : 
i a A ; 

pay 2 B ye 
o ; on ee = a 
eo ctr gee os 4 
Sal : 
e- oe 5 
: Se eae Ie : 

Oe le ete yes | 


See eR x VL 


WHEREIN CONSISTS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TYRANT AND 
A TRUE PRINCE, AND OF THE TYRANNY OF PRIESTS; AND 
WHEREIN A SHEPHERD, A THIEF AND A HIRELING DIFFER 
FROM ONE ANOTHER. 


Wherein the prince differs from the tyrant has already been 
set forth above when we were reviewing Plutarch’s “Instruc- 
tion of Trajan”; and the duties of the prince and of the different 
members of the commonwealth were also carefully explained at 
that point. Wherefore it will be easier to make known here, and 
in fewer words, the opposite characteristics of the tyrant. A 
tyrant, then, as the philosophers have described him, is one who 
oppresses the people by rulership based upon force, while he 
who rules in accordance with the laws is a prince. Law is the 
gift of god, the model of equity, a standard of justice, a likeness 
of the divine will, the guardian of well-being, a bond of union 
and solidarity between peoples, a rule defining duties, a barrier 
against the vices and the destroyer thereof, a punishment of 
violence and all wrong-doing. ‘The law is assailed by force or 
by fraud, and, as it were, either wrecked by the fury of the lion 
or undermined by the wiles of the serpent. In whatever way 
this comes to pass, it is plain that it 1s the grace of God which is 
being assailed, and that it is God himself who in a sense is chal- 
lenged to battle. The prince fights for the laws and the liberty 
of the people; the tyrant thinks nothing done unless he brings the 
laws to nought and reduces the people to slavery. Hence the 
prince is a kind of likeness of divinity; and the tyrant, on the 
contrary, a likeness of the boldness of the Adversary, even of 
the wickedness of Lucifer, imitating him that sought to build his 

335 


330 John of Saltsbury 


throne to the north and make himself like unto the Most High,* 
with the exception of His goodness. For had he desired to be 
like unto Him in goodness, he would never have striven to tear 
from Him the glory of His power and wisdom. What he more 
likely did aspire to was to be equal with him in authority to 
dispense rewards. The prince, as the likeness of the Deity, is 
to be loved, worshipped and cherished ; the tyrant, the likeness of 
wickedness, is generally to be even killed. The origin of tyranny 
is iniquity, and springing from a poisonous root, it is a tree 
which grows and sprouts into a baleful pestilent growth, and to 
which the axe must by all means be laid. For if iniquity and 
injustice, banishing charity, had not brought about tyranny, firm 
concord and perpetual peace would have possessed the peoples 
of the earth forever, and no one would think of enlarging his 
boundaries. Then kingdoms would be as friendly and peaceful, 
according to the authority of the great father Augustine,’ and 
would enjoy as undisturbed repose, as the separate families in 
a well-ordered state, or as different persons in the same family ; 
or perhaps, which is even more credible, there would be no king- 
doms at all, since it is clear from the ancient historians that in the 
beginning these were founded by iniquity as presumptuous en- 
croachments against the Lord, or else were extorted from Him. 

It is not only kings who practice tyranny ; among private men 
there are a host of tyrants, since the power which they have, 
they turn to some forbidden object. Nor let anyone be sur- 
prised that I seem to have linked kings with tyrants, since though 
it is true that a king derives his title from doing right * and that 
which befits a prince, still the name by common abuse comes often 
to be applied to the tyrant. As for instance in the well-known 
lines : # 


1Tsa., xiv, 12-14. 2 Aug., De Civ. Det. iv, 15. 
3Hor., Ep., I, i, 59-60; Isid., Etym. ix, 4 (Migne, P. L., tom. 1xxxvi, 
342). 


4 Lucan Phars. ii, 562-63. 


Pereceraticus’ViiT 17 334 


“T have mounted to the highest point to which a free people 
Could raise a citizen, and nought remains for me save kingly 
power”: 


and the other line: 


“My hope of peace will be to have touched the right hand of the 
tyrant,” * 


If it is permissible to call by the name of duty that which is 
contrary to all duty and to the rule of right living, we may find 
laid open to us in the statement of one of them, a list of the 
duties, or rather of the vices, of tyrants. This is Photinus 
(from whom the whole brood might not undeservedly take their 
name and be called Photinians), who was foremost among the 
monsters of the house of Pelleas, that is to say among the other 
monstrosities of Egypt, a man famous for his foulness and 
cruelty, who daring to condemn Pompey to death, or rather 
stating the practice of tyrants with hardened insolence, said: 


“Law and religion, Tholomee, cause many men to do harm. 

Good faith, though we may praise it, cannot escape paying the 
penalty 

When it aids those who have fortune against them; join then the 
side which is favored by the gods and the fates, 

And cultivate the fortunate, shun the unfortunate. As far 

As the stars from the earth, or fire from the sea, so far is the 
right from the profitable. 

The power of the scepter totally perishes when it begins 

To balance justice and injustice; and the clash of battle punishes 
regard for right. 

The liberty to commit crimes is what preserves the power of kings, 
hated though they may be, 

And the measure of the sword, sufficiently applied. 

To do all things cruelly does not lawfully escape punishment save 
when you do them successfully. 


5 Verg., Aen. vii, 266 


338 John of Salisbury 


Let him depart from the court of kings who desires to be right- 
eous; virtue and supreme ‘power 

Do not agree; he will always live in terror who is ashamed of 
cruel deeds.” ® 


Therefore respect for the right and the just is either not 
sufficiently present or else is wholly wanting from the face of 
tyrants ; and whether they are ecclesiastical or temporal tyrants, 
they desire for themselves power to do all things, despising what 
should precede and follow power. Still I would wish that both 
classes might be persuaded of this, that the divine judgment has 
not yet expired which was imposed on our first parents and their 
seed: namely that because they would not when they could, 
it was imposed upon them that they should not be able to obey 
justice even when they would willingly do so. For the proverb 
says, “He who will not when he may, when he wills he shall 
have nay.” Of this saying the great Basil is the author. For 
once when a poor woman besought him to intercede for her with 
the prince, he took her petition, and wrote thus upon it to the 
prince: “This poor woman has come to me because she thinks 
that I have some influence with you; if I have, please show it.” 
And he gave back the paper to the woman, who went away and 
gave the letter to the prince. Reading it, the prince wrote back 
as follows: “Holy father, on your account I have wished to 
take pity on the poor woman, but I could not because she is 
subject to the tributes.” The saint then wrote back to him: 
“Tf you would and could not, then well and good, no matter 
how the case stands; but if you could and would not, Christ 
will cause you to take your place among the needy so that when 
you will, you shall not be able.” The Holy Truth, which is ever 
present to the elect, did not fail to confirm the words of its 
spokesman. For in a short space of time the same prince, hav- 
ing been tempted to disdain the emperor, was led captive in 


6 Lucan, Phars. viii, 484-495. 


Peer at.cus V LIT 17 339 


fetters, thus by his own punishment making satisfaction for 
those whom he had unjustly oppressed. But on the sixth day 
as a result of the prayers of Basil he was freed from captivity, 
giving up his imperial pretensions, as the holy man had desired. 

Thus a king is sometimes called by the name of tyrant, and 
conversely a tyrant is at times called by the name of prince, 
according to the saying: “Thy princes are faithless and the 
companions of thieves’;* and eleswhere, “The princes of the 
priesthood took counsel together that they might seize Jesus by 
stealth and put Him to death”; * although by the just sentence 
of the law He should have been acquitted and set free..’ For in 
the priesthood as well as elsewhere are to be found many who 
strive with all their ambition and all the arts thereof to use the 
duties of their office as but a pretext under cover whereof to 
practise tyranny. For the commonwealth of the ungodly has 
also its head and members, and strives to correspond, as it were, 
to the civil institutions of a legitimate commonwealth. The 
tyrant who is its head is the likeness of the devil; its soul con- 
sists of heretical, schismatic, and sacrilegious priests, and, to use 
the language of Plutarch, prefects of religion who wage war 
on the law of the Lord; its heart of unrighteous counsellors is 
like a senate of iniquity ; its eyes, ears, tongue, and unarmed hand 
are unjust judges, laws and officials ; its armed hand consists of 
soldiers of violence whom Cicero calls brigands; its feet are 
those who in the humbler walks of life go against the precepts 
of the Lord and His lawful institutions. All these can easily be 
restrained by their superiors. But surely priests ought not to 
become indignant with me if I must confess that among them 
too can be found tyrants. Else to what end is that saying of the 
prophet: “Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of 
Israel, prophesy and say unto them: Thus saith the Lord God, 
Woe to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should 
not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? Ye did eat the milk, ye 


TV ISa5, 23. 8 Matt. xxvii, 3, 4. 


340 John of Salisbury 


clothed yourselves with the wool, and ye did kill that which was 
fat; but my flock ye did not feed. Ye did not strengthen that 
which was weak, ye did not heal that which was sick: Yerdid 
not bind up that which was broken, ye did not bring again that 
which was driven away, neither did ye seek again that which 
was lost; but ye ruled over them with rigor and with a high 
hand; and my sheep have been scattered because there was no | 
shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, and 
were scattered.”® What else does this bitter denunciation of 
Ezechiel show to have been present to his mind if not that the 
shepherds were lacking in the things which they should have — 
had, and had the things which they should have lacked? Where- 
fore saith the Lord: “Behold, I myself am above the shep- 
herds, and I will require my flock at their hand, and will cause 
them to cease from feeding my flock any more; and I will 
bring it to pass that the shepherds shall no more feed themselves, 
and I will deliver my flock out of their mouth and my flock shall 
no more be meat for them.” #° Is it not clear that this language 
is meant to describe manifest tyranny on the part of the priest- 
hood, and to depict the lives of those who in all things seek their 
own gain and put behind their backs the things which are of 
Jesus Christ? Verily the passage is not my own but borrowed 
from the oracle of the perfectly undefiled Gospel, wherein, in the 
words of the Apostle who was Jesus’ friend, there is described 
the manifest difference between the hireling shepherd and the 
thief ; namely that “the good shepherd lays down his life for his 
sheep.”11_ And if you ask what are the duties of his office, 
you will find them in the aforesaid prophet: “Behold, I my- 
self will seek my sheep, and will visit them, as a shepherd 
visiteth his flock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his 
sheep that were scattered. I will lead them forth from the 
mist, I will gather them from out of the darkness. I will bring 
them into their own land, and will feed them upon the mountains 


9 Ezek. xxxiv, 2-5. 10 Rzek. xxxiv, 10. 11 John x, 15. 


Poermeroati.cus V LLI 17 341 


of Israel by the rivers, and in all the habitations of the land; in 
the richest pastures, on the highest mountains, shall their pas- 
tures be; they shall lie down upon green herbage, and they 
shall feed in fat pastures upon the mountains of Israel. I will 
feed them, and cause them to lie down; I will seek that which 
was lost, and bring again that which was driven away; I will 
bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which 
was weak, and I will preserve that which was fat and strong.” 
This is the diligence wherewith shepherds should wah over 
their flocks. To which He also adds: “And I will feed them 
in judgment and in justice”; 1* this corresponds to, and ‘is con- 
trasted with, that other passage which had gone before: “Ye 
ruled over them with rigor and with a high hand.” For it is 
written that “to have one weight for one, another weight for 
another, to use one measure for one and another measure for 
another, both are abominable in the sight of God.’ '* But 
among men who are engaged in business it seems a mark of 
notable though unlawful prudence, which is really knavery and 
fraud, to measure with one measure for themselves and with 
a shorter one for others. But for a prelate, the reason of equity 
‘requires that the burden which he seeks to impose on others 
he should first bear himself, and what he wishes to teach he 
should first fulfil in his own works.'* This is what is meant 
by the injunction to feed them in judgment and justice and not 
to rule them with rigor and a high hand. But the latter is done 
by those who bind upon the shoulders of men burdens grievous 
and intolerable to be borne, which they themselves disdain to 
touch with their own finger. Wherefore the prophet con- 
tinues: ‘And when ye yourselves drank of the clearest water, 


12 Ezek. xxxiv, 11-16. 13 Ezek. xxxiv, 16. 14 Prov. xx, 10. 
15 Cf, Chaticer’s portrait of the good parson: 
“This noble ensample to his sheep he yaf, 
That first he wroughte, and afterward he taughte.” 
“Canterbury Tales,” Prologue, Il. 496-7. 


342 John of Salis 


ye muddied the rest with your feet, and my flock were fed with 
that which ye had trodden with your feet, and they drank that 
which your feet had muddied. Therefore, behold, I myself 
will judge between the fat cattle and the lean, because ye have 
thrust with sides and shoulders, and tossed all the weak cattle 
with your horns till they were scattered abroad.” 1 of one 
ward appearance a hireling feeds the sheep; but because he does 
all things for a price, when he beholds the wolf rushing toward 
him, he leaves the sheep and flies, being not a shepherd but a 
hireling, and caring not for the sheep but for his pay, even as a 
dumb watchdog that cannot bark to frighten off the approach- 
ing wolf by his outcry and clamor ; but fears him who snatches 
away his means of living, and does not stay to await him who 
will torture his soul in Gehenna. Verily, he is blind to the 
larger things and shuns all things which are not objects of 
property. Of such men it is written, “Woe unto the foolish 
prophets that follow their own spirit and see nothing; like 
foxes in the deserts are thy prophets, O Israel! Ye have not 
gone up to face the enemy, neither have ye built a wall before 
the house of Israel, that ye might stand fast in battle in the 
day of the Lord.” 1” For there is no spirit of liberty or 1n- 
dependence in them to lift up their voices against the powers of 
the world, no valor to protect the Truth in time of danger; in all 
things it is payment which they seek, in none or in but few do 
they seek the salvation of souls. So long as they prosper in 
their own concerns, so long as they realize the objects of their 
‘ambition and avarice, they hold in small account the loss of the 
things of Jesus Christ. Let there be peace in their times, let the 
sheep be prolific, the beeves fat, the storehouses full; let the 
table loaded with meat and drink dazzle the admiring eyes of 
the beholders, let the elaborate finery of all manner of curious 
and costly furnishings abound, let them be reverenced and 


16 Ezek, xxxiv, 18-21. 17 Ezek, xiii, 3-5. 


Policraticus VIII 17 343 


fawned upon by crowds of sycophants, let them grow rich and 
be visited by their subjects with presents, in short give them 
liberty and impunity to do without blame whatever their desire 
dictates, and they will say to everything, “Capital! Bravo!” 
And thus they seem, according to the reproach of the prophet, 
to have daubed with mortar unmixed with straw the wall of 
hardened sin which by the precept of God was to have been un- 
dermined to the end that it might fall and the worst abomina- 
tions vanish from the house of the Lord. 

These are the men that sew cushions and place pillows beneath 
the head of a whole generation to snare souls,'® and consume the 
milk and clothe themselves with the wool of the sheep which 
they have as it were led into the sleep of negligence or rashness. 
But a thief is proved by his works, because he “cometh not but 
for to steal and to kill and to slay and to destroy,”*® A wholly 
destructive and open enemy is he who is a shepherd neither in 
fact nor in appearance, and does not even feed the sheep in 
return for pay, but counts it as his own gain when he slays 
them. Therefore love is due to the true shepherd because he 
loves; the hireling merits to be endured patiently because in 
appearance he imitates the loving shepherd; but to the thief the 
Church owes nought save punishment. If the good man of a 
household knew at what hour the thief would come, he would 
watch diligently, and not permit his house to be invaded. The 
sheep hear the voice of the shepherd and follow him; at times 
they give ear to the voice of the hireling, but they scorn to fol- 
low because he does not lead toward life; but the voice of the 
thief they spurn with horror and flee away therefrom, because 
in his hand they see, and in his mouth they hear, the deeds of 
death; verily he is not only a thief and a brigand but a raven- 
ing wolf, a follower of the roaring lion who goeth about seek- 
ing whom he may devour. Who then would not resist him, or 


18 Ezek, xiii, 18. - 19 John x, 10. 


344 John of Salisbury 


at least flee away before him who thus approaches the sheepfold 
to slay and to kill? “Tf a man desire the office of a bishop,” 
says the Apostle, “he desireth a good work.” #° But I do not 
know how the thing has been so turned to its contrary that while 
almost all desire to be bishops, yet when they have attained to 
that which they desire, they become idle and do nothing; or, 
what is more scandalous, busy themselves about works of vanity. 
With what ambition they race for the prize I have sought to ex- 
plain above, but, as the thing stands, it was entirely beyond my. 
power to give a full description ; and it will be even more dif- 
ficult to describe how uselessly many employ themselves in the 
station which they have so longed to reach. But one thing I 
know, which is that they do not run forward with equal eager- 
ness to lay down their lives for others, but even refuse to de- 
vote to their needy brothers the favors which they have received 
from fortune, or, to speak more correctly, the temporal gifts of 
the grace of God, which are bestowed solely for the purpose of 
being so used as to merit His eternal gifts. But that this is the 
essence of the duty of a shepherd has been showed by the 
prince of shepherds both by His words and by His example. 
Therefore, those who race forward with such ambition are only 
hastening to become hirelings or thieves. Yet even so it is well 
indeed with the sheep that are entrusted to the care of one who 
actually feeds them, if only for pay. Because among hirelings 
themselves there are degrees and differences. To be sure they 
all spread nets for game; but some fish for the catching of both 
souls and things, others only for things, not hesitating to bring 
souls into peril; and often they trouble all things, to the end of 
creating a richer opportunity for fishing therein to their heart's 
content. You will marvel at the sumptuous trappings and 
Cresus-like means, as the saying is, of men who preach the 
poverty of Christ, and taking advantage of the fact that they 


201 Tim. ili, 1. 


Reecrurircus Vill 317 345 


are not compelled to serve at their own expense, preach the 
Gospel in order that they may feast, and thus abuse the stipend 
of preachers of the word. The cup wherein Joseph was wont 
to divine, they turn over in the mouth of their sack, but it 
descends not into their hands. For verily the tongue of tle 
priest is the cup of Him who is in the Truth, and, by a figurative 
use of words, it signifies the Saviour of the World, who was sent 
to reveal hidden things and to refresh the minds of the faithful 
with a draught of that Spirit wherewith when they were re- 
plete, the disciples in Judea were reputed drunk, belching forth 
the word of faith and salvation, and dispensing the seed of the 
corn which had fallen into the ground of their hearts and which 
now in the purity of their eloquence brought forth abundant 
fruit unto God. 

Others who are wholly without the Gospel, yet live by means 
of the Gospel, and fortunate it is if they merely live by it and 
do not also fatten upon it. I should scarcely apply the name 
of hirelings to those who do not labor in order to eat, but rather 
desire without labor not merely to eat, which is a thing of 
necessity, but to luxuriate in idleness. To be sure, indulgence 
and reverence are due to all who exercise the office of a shep- 
herd; and I am willing that all who in any way bring tidings 
of Christ and win gain for Him, though to their own advantage 
and for the sake thereof, should yet be numbered among shep- 
herds of souls and dispensers of salvation, and that they should 
be esteemed in friendship, be held in veneration and enjoy the 
honor due to fathers; though they are hirelings, yet I for my 
part will never deprive them of their pay. Would, rather, 
that among them there were one who would speak the word of 
God, who would build up the Church of God, though at a price 
and for the sake of pay! I do not grudge them their pay if 
it is preceded by works. But those who are so greedy for pay 
that they scorn and neglect all the things which are of Christ, 
even though they do not teach heresy or split the Church with 


346 John of Salisbury 


contentions, are unworthy of the name or honor of a shepherd, 
or even of hireling. I am not speaking of papal legates. i 
leave untouched the Roman Church, which by the high author- 
ity of God is the parent and nursing mother of faith and life 
and, fortified by privilege from heaven, can neither be judged 
nor blamed of men; for it is not credible that they should pre- 
sume or deign to commit acts which even by the law of the 
gentiles are everywhere recognized as unlawful for governors of 
provinces and proconsuls, that is to say for legates of Cesar. 
What impudence would be needed for a disciple of the Crucified 
One, the vicar of Peter, the shepherd of souls, to dare attempt 
things which, while the pagan doctrine prevailed in vigor, no 
imperial vicar, ruling men’s bodies from the office of a consul, 
ever dared presume? AY, , 

The penalty of extortion has been set forth above, and our 
own age knows it, not merely from the provisions of the laws 
but from historical examples, and that, except in the matter of 
food and drink, it was not lawful for a judge to accept any- 
thing from the provincials, with the added provision that what 
was so accepted must never fall into the category of a gift or 
bribe. Who then will believe that the fathers of the Church, 
the judges of the earth, and, if I may use the expression, the 
brightest luminaries of the world, should delight in gifts, run 
after fines and forfeitures, wring money from provinces until 
they destroy them, drain the coffers of others to fill their own, 
preach poverty with their tongues and by their crimes rush after 
riches, condemn traffic in spiritual things as though it were 
lawful for them alone to engage therein, so acting as to be a 
terror to all, loved by none, teaching peace that they themselves 
may stir up strife, recommending and pretending humility to 
make way for their own pride, smiting the avarice of others 
and feeding their own, commanding liberality, standing fast in 
parsimony; and, to include in a few words all the twists and 
ample folds of this matter, throwing in their lot with all rascals 


Peer oticus V bil rz 347 


and scoundrels, or assuming joint responsibility for their crimes 
so as to seem a council of vanity, a synagogue of evil-doers, 
a church of wicked spirits, in whose hands are iniquities and 
their right hand is filled with bribes? Perish the possibility that 
any should dare harbor such a suspicion! Let none fall into 
such wickedness as to set his mouth against Heaven and uncover 
the nakedness of the fathers, which ought not to be seen. Every 
thing of theirs is white and decorous, there is nought in them 
which is exposed to the biting of dogs, or, as the satirist says, 
to jeers from behind.” If, however, any should be guilty of 
such presumption, he can be answered by one, and the strong- 
est possible, argument, which all our adversaries will not dare 
to withstand or contradict. What argument? you say. The 
argument namely, that the works which they do bear testimony 
concerning them. If you ask for the method of proof, look to 
the effect from which the purity of the cause can be inferred with 
certainty; for the thing whereof the work is good, is itself 
good. If you ask for the authority, it is He who says, “By 
their fruits ye shall know them; for a corrupt tree cannot bring 
forth good fruits nor, contrariwise, can a good tree bring forth 
evil fruits.” °? Many more arguments could be urged in their 
behalf if any still thinks that they should be disparaged; but 
let the following alone suffice in their defence: it may be taken 
as established that we should adore the foot-prints of the 
Apostles, and that those who possess their seat and imitate their 
life should be honored as fathers, cherished as masters. ‘There- 
fore, this page with its criticisms looks rather toward those who 
are wafted forward on waving wings, who in the midst of 
satiety dispute about fasting, and pull down by their works 
what they build up by their words; the eunuchs of the queen of 
the Ethiopians sit in their chariot and with closed eyes read 
aloud the Scriptures, but disdain or are unable to look upon 


21 Pers., Sat.:i, 62.. 22 Matt. vii, 16, 17. 


348 John of Salisbury 


Him who is led like a sheep to the slaughter and opens not His). 
mouth before His shearer; nor do they deign to ask a disciple 
of the Truth to sit beside them and interpret, until they descend 
to the waters whereby they may be cleansed from dead works. 
Verily, though they ride upon the wheels of the Scriptures and 
are borne along by the rush of winged beasts, their tongue, when 
it disputes of higher things, licks the earth; nor do they under- 
stand the Scriptures, because their heart is not opened by the 
Lord of sciences who, as is written in the Acts of the Apostles, 
opened the heart of Lydia, the seller of purple, that she might 
hear the things which were said by Paul, things whereof truer 
knowledge comes to those who fear God by way of humble 
obedience to his commandments than by wordy disputations. 

‘A thief may be identified in either of two ways. For in the 
first place one who struggles up from conversation with the 
earth by the ladder of pride and ambition, and by the rungs of 
the vices climbs into the sheep-fold in contempt of Christ, that 
is to say who neglects the straight and level way and burrows 
under the threshold by sinuous twistings, or bursts through the 
joints of the walls, or glides down through the tiles of the roof, 
is clearly a thief and a robber. Secondly, one who enters while 
Christ Himself holds open the door, that is to say upon a call 
from the Church, but who afterwards in the guise of a shepherd 
becomes a persecutor, that is robs and slays and kills and de- 
stroys, he is an undoubted thief. I leave it to you to say in 
which class should be placed those who are not satisfied with 
the license of the divine law to shear and devour the flock, but 
also call upon the aid of the secular laws, and causing them- 
selves to be appointed officials of princes, do not scruple to com- 
mit acts at which any other publican would blush. Meanwhile 
they serve their own pleasure or avarice, and plunder and op- 
press those who have elected them or admitted them to be their 
keepers, and they desire the death of those whom it is their 
duty to nourish in flesh and spirit. Truly they keep in mind the 


Peercraticus VIII 17 349 


saying of the prophet: “Lo, I have set thee over nations and 
over kingdoms to root up and to pull down and to scatter and 
to build and to plant.” ** Therefore what they have found 
already planted they strive to root up, in order that they may 
build for themselves the house of God in the form of gifts of 
hand or tongue or service, and in the place of those whom 
they have plucked up, they substitute others whom they choose 
out of affection of the flesh, that is to say either their own 
offspring or offspring which others have carnally begotten for 
them, Here opens wide an immense task for my pen; but I 
halt, sparing the points which obtrude themselves upon the 
public gaze. And if any one accuses me of too great harshness 
in what I have here said, he will easily pardon me if he reads 
what has been said by the fathers. For if according to both 
human and divine law a temporal tyrant is to be destroyed, who 
can suppose that it is our duty to love and cherish a tyrant in the 
priesthood? And if this seems too harsh a saying, I call to my 
defence one who spoke nought save truth and sweetness, namely 
blessed Gregory, who lashed these offences far more bitterly. 
And, to say no more, at least this one saying of his is known to 
all, that prelates should be aware that when they themselves 
sin they deserve as many deaths as they draw subjects of theirs 
to perdition by their example. 


28 Jer..1, Xi, 


CHAPTER Aaya 


THAT TYRANTS ARE THE MINISTERS OF GOD, AND OF WHAT A 
TYRANT IS; AND CONCERNING THE CHARACTERS OF GAIUS 
CALIGULA AND NERO HIS NEPHEW, AND OF THE DEATH OF 
EACH OF THEM. 


I do not, however, deny that tyrants are the ministers of God, 
who by His just judgment has willed them to be in the place 
of highest authority in one sphere or the other, that is to say over 
souls or over bodies; to the end that by their means the wicked 
may be punished, and the good chastened and exercised. For the 
sins of a people cause a hypocrite to reign over them, and, as the 
Book of Kings bears witness, tyrants were brought into power 
over the people of Israel by the failings of the priests. For the 
earliest fathers and patriarchs followed nature, the best guide of 
life. They were succeeded by leaders, beginning with Moyses, 
who followed the law, and judges who ruled the people by the 
authority of the law; and we read that the latter were priests. 
At last in the anger of the Lord, they were given kings, some 
good, but many bad. For Samuel had grown old, and when his 
sons did not walk in his ways, but followed after avarice and 
uncleanness, the people, who perchance had deserved that such 
priests should be in authority over them, forced God, whom 
they had despised, to give them aking. And so Saul was chosen, 
with the aforesaid right of a king, namely that he might take 
their sons and make them his charioteers, and take their daugh- 
ters to bake his bread and cook his food, and take their fields 
and lands to distribute at his pleasure among his servants, and 

350 


Peuoraiscus VILLI 78 351 


in short oppress the whole people under the yoke of slavery. 
None the less he was called the anointed of the Lord, and though 
practising tyranny, did not therefore lose the honor of a king. 
For God smote all with fear, so that they reverenced him as the 
minister of God and as in a sort bearing the likeness of God. I 
will go further; even tyrants of the gentiles, who have been 
damned unto death from eternity, are the ministers of God and 
are called the anointed of the Lord. Therefore the prophet 
says: “Chieftains shall enter into the gates of Babilon,’* to 
wit Cirus and Darius; “for I have commanded my consecrated 
ones, and have summoned my mighty ones in mine anger, and 
them that exult in my glory.” ? Behold that He calls Medes and 
Persians “sanctified,” not because they were holy men, but be- 
cause they fulfilled the will of the Lord against Babilon. Else- 
where to the same effect: “Behold, I will bring on Nabugod- 
onosor my servant, and because he served me well at Tyre, I 
will give unto him Egypt.” ° 

Indeed all power is good since it is from Him from whom 
alone are all things and from whom cometh only good. But at 
times it may not be good, but rather evil, to the particular in- 
dividual who exercises it or to him upon whom it is exercised, 
though it is good from the universal standpoint, being the act of 
Him who uses our ills for His own good purposes. Just as in 
a painting, a black or smutty color or some other such feature, 
looked at by itself, is ugly, and yet considered as a part of the 
whole painting is pleasing ; so things which separately examined 
seem foul and evil, yet when related to the whole appear good 
and fair, since He adapts all things to Himself whose works are 
all exceeding good. Therefore even the rule of a tyrant, too, 
is good, although nothing is worse than tyranny. For tyranny 
is abuse of power entrusted by God to man. but this evil em- 
braces a vast and varied use of things which are good. For it is 


eewec leas Xili,*2, 3. 2 Tea. Iii ot. 3 Ezek. xxix, 18, Io. 


352 John of Salisbury - 

clear that tyranny not only exists in the case of princes, but that 
every one is a tyrant who abuses power that has been conferred 
upon him from above over those that are subjected to him. 
Further, if power falls to the lot of a wise man, who knows and 
has the proper use of all things, it is pleasing to all good men, 
and of advantage to all. But if it falls to the lot of a man who 
is foolish, then although it cannot be really evil to the good, for 
whom all things work together for good, it may nevertheless be 
temporarily very grievous unto them. It is quite obvious that 
power may fall into the hands of men of either kind, though, 
because of the wickedness of our generation, who are continually 
provoking against ourselves the wrath of God, it more frequently 
happens that it comes into the hands of bad, that is to say of 
foolish, men. For what power in human history is anywhere 
recorded greater than that of the Roman Empire? Yet if you 
run through the list of its rulers from the beginning you will 
find that, more often than not, power was in the hands of bad 
men. What man was ever more abominable or monstrous than 
Gaius Caligula, the third successor of Augustus, except Nero, 
who excelled all who went before and came after him in his in- 
famy of life and unimaginable crimes? This Caligula, a past- 
master in crime, so ruled or rather tortured the empire, and 
with that degree of cruelty, that he seemed envious of his own 
good fortune, and complained of the posture of affairs in his 
times because they were not marked by any noteworthy public 
calamities. For peace had been brought upon the age by the 
birth of Him who had come to destroy the empire of contradic- 
tion and death; and although the vastness of this peace was 
ascribed to Augustus, it should really be ascribed rather to 
Christ, who was enrolled as a Roman citizen when the census 
was taken during the reign of Augustus. For it is established 
by the truthful narrative of the Gospels and histories that in 
his reign was born the sole author of peace, at once God and 
man, Christ the son of a virgin, whose eternal ordinance has 


Poelacraticus VilIlI.18 353 


chosen His elect for true peace and for the happiness of the 
kingdom of the blest, and whose advent was heralded and re- 
vealed by many signs and portents. For, as Orosius relates, 
after the death of Julius, when Czsar was entering the city on 
his return from Apollonia, at about the third hour of the day, 
the sky being bright and cloudless, a circle in appearance like 
unto a rainbow suddenly surrounded the orb of the sun; and this 
is believed to have occurred on the eighth day of the Idus of 
January which is called the day of Epiphany, upon which day 
Czesar for the first time closed the gates of Janus, all the civil 
wars having been at last stilled and ended, and assumed the 
name of Augustus, which denotes the summit of imperial au- 
thority, in token that the totality of affairs and power was now 
dependent upon and in the hands of a single person, which is the 
form of government that the Greeks call monarchy. The same 
historian relates that when, on his return from Sicily, after re- 
ceiving the legions from Pompey and Lepidus, he had restored 
thirty thousand slaves to their masters, and had decreed that 
all former debts of the people should be remitted and all record 
of them destroyed ; during those days a most abundant fountain 
of oil flowed forth all day from the booth of the merchants, 
thus announcing that at last there had manifestly ascended to 
the seat of power one who had come to subject sinners and 
slaves of the devil to the just dominion of God, and to take 
pity upon the poor. When all things were thus silent before 
the face of Christ and the whole world was smit with amaze- 
ment at the marvellous pity of the Most High, the totality of 
affairs and power fell to Caligula, third in succession from 
Augustus. Whose ferocity, to be brief, was so great that he is 
reported to have exclaimed: “Would that the Roman people 
had only one neck!’’ And because there was no foreign enemy, 
he set out with a great and incredible train to seek for one, and 
coursing through Germany and Gaul with an idle display of 
power, he halted by the shores of the Ocean almost in sight of 


354 John of Salisbury 


Britain, and then returned to Rome, all occasion for war being 
lacking, and having accomplished no other business beyond re- 
ceiving the surrender of Belinus, son of the king of the Britains, 
whom his father had banished, along with a few companions. 
He fell into the bitterest hostility against the Jews and ordered 
the profanation of the sacred places of Jerusalem and that they 
should be filled with idols and that he himself should be wor- 
shipped as a God. He harassed Pilate, the governor of Judea, 
with so much vexation that he sought a short way out of his 
misery by a speedy death at his own hand. His sisters, whom 
he had first shamefully defiled, he condemned to exile and aifter- 
wards commanded all the exiles together to be put to death. 
Finally he was himself slain by his own cuards. Among his 
private papers were found two little books containing the names 
of the most prominent citizens, whom he had marked for death ; 
and one was headed “by the sword,” the other “by the poniard.” 
Besides, there was found a great chest of many diverse kinds of 
poisons, which, having been thrown into the sea by the com- 
mand of Claudius Cesar, are said to have polluted all the waters 
with a multitude of dead fish which bore witness to their deadly 
character. Caligula was succeeded by his nephew Nero, after 
the intervening reign of Claudius; and he was a worthy succes- 
sor to his wealth and his vices, surpassing him in both, and prac- 
tising capriciousness, lust, rankness, avarice and cruelty to the 
last degree of wickedness. For on the testimony of Orosius,* 
he conceived the whim of making a circuit of almost all the 
theaters of Greece and Italy, and disgracing himself to the 
point of donning their motley attire, was often seen to excel 
cornet-players, lute-players, tragedians and charioteers. Be- 
sides, he was the prey of such furious lust that it is said that he 
did not refrain from his own mother and sister or respect any 
tie of kinship, finally taking a man for his wife, and being him- 


4 Oros. vii, 7, §§ 1 ff. 


Pepmeraivcus Y ITI 18 355 


self accepted as the wife of a man. His extravagance was so 
unbridled that he fished with golden nets and purple: twine; 
bathed in hot and cold unguents; never wore the same garment 
twice, and is said never to have travelled with less than a thou- 
sand carriages. At last he made a bonfire of the city of Rome 
as a spectacle for his pleasure; for six days and seven nights the 
blazing city delighted and terrified the eyes of the king. The 
warehouses built of squared stones and the great “islands” of the 
ancients, which the ravenous flames could not touch, were broken 
down and fired by the great engines which had been formerly 
prepared for foreign war, the unhappy people being forced to 
find lodging in the tombs and mansions of the dead. Mean- 
while he watched the spectacle from the top of the tower of 
Mecenas, and rejoicing, as he said, in the beauty of the flames, 
declaimed in the garb of a tragedian the ode of Heleifeles, and 
chanted the ritualistic hymns of the city in which the splendor 
of the sun is celebrated. Moreover his avarice was so headlong 
and violent that after this conflagration of the city, which 
Augustus had boasted that he had changed from brick to marble, 
he would permit none of the owners to approach the ruins of 
their property. Everything which had in any way escaped the 
flames, he carried off for himself ; he commanded the Senate to 
confer upon him ten million sesterces annually; most of the 
senators he despoiled of their property for no cause whatever ; 
on a single day by the application of torture he wrung from all 
the merchants their entire fortune. His cruelty was so mad 
_and furious that he put to death the greater part of the Senate 
and almost annihilated the equestrian order. He did not even 
stop short of parricide; his mother, his brother, his sister, his 
wife and all his other relatives and connections he destroyed 
without hesitation. This mountain of crime was augmented by 
his rash impiety against God. For he was the first at Rome to 
condemn the Christians to torture and death, and throughout 
all the provinces commanded them to suffer under the same 


350 John of Salisbury 


persecution. In this attempt to exterminate the very name 
itself, he put to death the most blessed apostles of Christ, Peter 
by the cross, Paul by the sword. Shortly thereafter the stricken _ 
city was visited by the most cruel calamities coming from every 
side. For in the following autumn so great a pestilence settled 
upon Rome that thirty thousand corpses went to swell the ac- 
count of Libiciniana. Hard upon this occurred a military dis- 
aster in Britain, in which the two chief towns were captured 
with great loss and slaughter of citizens and allies. Then in the 
East the great provinces of Armenia were lost, the Roman 
legions were sent under the yoke by the Parthians, and Siria was 
hardly saved. In Asia three cities, namely Laodicie, lerapolis 
and Colose, were destroyed by an earthquake. Thus in sub- 
stance Orosius; whose words and matter I use the more readily 
since 1 know that as a Christian, and ‘a disciple of the great 
Augustine, he searched diligently for the truth because of his 
devotion to our religion and faith. The same facts can be 
found set forth at greater length by other historical writers 
as well, who describe in greater detail the cruelties of tyrants 
and the wretched ends they came to. And if anyone should de- 
sire to investigate this matter more fully, let him read what 
Trogus Pompeius, Josephus, Egesippus, Suetonius, Quintus 
Curtius, Cornelius Tacitus, Titus Livius, Serenus and Tran- 
quillus and other historians, whom it would be too long to 
enumerate, have included in their narratives. From which 
it will readily appear that it has always been lawful to flatter 
tyrants and to deceive them, and that it has always been an hon- 
orable thing to slay them if they can be curbed in no other way. 
I am not now talking of tyrants in private life, but of those who 
oppress the commonwealth. For private tyrants can easily be 
restrained by the public laws which are binding upon the lives 
of all; but in the case of a priest, even though he acts the tyrant, 
it is not lawful to employ the material sword against him be- 
cause of the reverence due to sacred things, unless perchance 


porreraticus, VIII 38 357 


after he has been unfrocked, he lifts a bloody hand against the 
Church of God; since the rule always prevails that there ought 
not to be double punishment of one man for the same offence. 
It does not seem beside the point to illustrate what has been 
said by a few examples. 


CHAP TERA 
OF THE DEATH OF JULIUS CAESAR AND OTHER GENTILE TYRANTS. 


First of all there comes to mind the House of Ceesar, than 
which the world recalls none more mighty nor more glorious in 
any age. Truly Julius, the first Caesar, won the world by the 
force of his prudence and military skill,—a man of the fewest, 
and whose exact like the nature of mortal men has never again 
produced. For though Cicero in one passage accuses him of 
delighting in wrong-doing beyond all pretence of utility or 
decency, and to the point of actually rejoicing in sin, neverthe- 
less the same author elsewhere extols him with the highest praise 
as a gift of the gods bestowed upon the Roman empire and 
tempered with all the virtues, and as a man who knew not how 
to be exalted by prosperity nor broken by misfortune, high- 
spirited without cruelty, magnificent in his projects without 
a touch of rashness. For although, had he been any other 
man, he might be thought rash, yet Cesar should not be deemed 
so, since through the ever favoring aid of the gods his desires 
never exceeded his power. No one ever found Cesar cruel 
save the proud rebel; though provoked by wrongs, he was 
always ready to pardon; those whom he conquered by force he 
surpassed in prudence. His very errors seemed to hope for and 
aspire toward justice; which can be inferred from the fact that 
he wished no moment of his time to be without philosophy. To 
all these things Orosius seems in part to assent. For in Egypt 
when a great number of his troops had fallen, and he himself, 
as Lucan tells, was compelled to look to Scaeva, who, standing 
out among the followers of Cesar for his exceptional valor, 

358 


Beracraticus VF IIT ro 359 


“Hemmed in with walls Great Pompey who trampled down 
walls,” 1 


Cesar, hard-pressed by the onrush of the advancing Egyptians, 
boarded a skiff, which being soon overburdened and sunk by the 
press of those who followed after him, he reached safety by 
swimming a thousand feet to his ship, holding high out of the 
water the hand in which he carried his papers. None the less 
this man, because he had seized the commonwealth by arms, was 
reputed a tyrant, and with the consent of a great part of the 
Senate, was done to death with drawn daggers in the Capitol. 
But even then he was mindful of the requirements of honor; 
and when he saw that they were seeking him with their daggers 
drawn, he veiled his head with his toga and with his left hand 
drew down its folds that he might fall the more honorably. 

His successor Augustus, most fortunate of all men, was 
forbidden under threat of punishment to call himself lord, and, 
bearing himself as a citizen, refrained from the acts and out- 
ward marks of tyranny. Tiberius, third in line from Julius, 
died by poison; whose death so delighted the populace that they 
prayed to mother earth and the gods of the underworld to make 
no room for his shade save among the impious. And, although 
the use of poison has always been detestable, yet the poison 
whereby this man was cut off has been thought to have given 
life to the world. It was regarded as a certain sign of poison 
that when his body had been cremated his heart was found un- 
consuined among his bones. For it is thought to be a fact of 
nature that what has been steeped in poison cannot be consumed 
by fire. 

The third tyrant, Gaius Caligula, was slain by his attendants. 
Tiberius Claudius, fifth in line from Julius, although he avoided 
tyranny, came to his end, like the other Tiberius, with unmis- 
takable signs of poison. Nero, the sixth from Julius and the 


1Luc., Phars. x, 543-546, 


360 John of Salisbury 


most monstrous and disgusting of all, had the following end. 
After he had been offended by the ugliness of the old buildings 
and the narrowness and crookedness of the streets, and there- 
fore burned down the city, as has been told above, all the people 
turned from him, as Suetonius Tranquillus relates, and when 
on entering his chamber he looked about for an assassin and 
found none, for everyone had departed, “Well then,” he said, 
“have I neither a friend nor an enemy?” Later, shortly be- 
fore he stabbed himself, he bade a grave to be dug in his 
presence to fit the size of his body, and that there should be 
placed in it such bits of marble as could be found and that water 
and wood should be collected for embalming his corpse, and at 
each step in the preparations he wept and repeated again and 
again, “In my death what an artist perishes!” When he heard 
that he had been condemned by the Senate to torture, he asked 
what the nature of it was. And when he had learned that he 
was to be stripped naked and his neck inserted into a fork and 
his body beaten with rods until he was dead, he seized in terror 
two daggers which he had brought away with him, and trying 
the edge of each, hid them again, pleading that it was not yet the 
fatal hour. And at one moment he urged Sporus to begin a 
lament, and at the next begged that some one would give him 
courage to die by dying with him as an example. And mean- 
while from time to time he upbraided his own cowardice in 
these words, “I live foully, I die shamefully.”” And now the 
horsemen were already drawing near who were commanded to 
bring him away alive. When he perceived this, he drove the 
steel into his throat, and in him there thus came to an end the 
whole House of the Czsars. But that none may suppose that 
the law which permits such action against tyrants applies only — 
to that family, Vitellius, the ninth in line from Julius (Galba 
and Otho having intervened between Nero and Vitellius), was 
shamefully dragged forth from the cubbyhole in which he had 
hid himself, and after being led naked along the Via Sacra with 


Policraticus VIII 19g 361 


the crowd everywhere throwing dung at his face, was torn into 
minute fragments by the Roman People at the Gemonian stairs, 
and then dragged by a hook into the Tiber. 

Domitian, twelfth in line (Vespasian and Titus having in- 
tervened), was cruelly slain by his attendants after a long and 
bloody tyranny. This prince acted with unusual clemency 
toward the Christians for a reason which I shall briefly explain 
on the authority of Eusebius of Czsarea; whose words are as 
follows, in his third book, and eighteenth chapter: “After 
- Domitian had ordered that all should be put to death who were 
descended from the race and royal stock of David, as old tradi- 
tion has it, certain men were reported to him as being of the 
posterity of Jude, who is said to have been the brother of our 
Saviour according to the flesh. Thus there was a double ground 
of hostility against them, as being of the race of David and also 
as being near relatives of Christ. What followed, Egesippus 
relates in the following words: Now there were still alive at 
that time certain men of the family of our Lord after the flesh, 
who were grandsons of that Jude who is said to have been a 
brother of our Lord according to the flesh; who were reported 
by informers as coming of the stock of David. A certain 
Revocatus, being sent for the purpose, brought these men before 
Cesar Domitian. For he was in fear of the coming of Christ, 
as Herod had been at the beginning. Being asked, therefore, by 
Domitian whether they were of the family of David, they con- 
fessed it. Then he asked them of what property or other means 
they were possessed. They replied that their combined property 
did not exceed nine thousand denarii, of which half of the share 
of each was owed for indebtedness. And that this property 
was not in the form of money, but was the estimated value of 
land consisting of thirty-nine acres, which they tilled with their 
own hands and upon which they depended to support themselves 
and pay their tribute. And at this they showed their hands, hard 
and calloused from labor, as evidence of their daily toil and 


362 John of Salisbury 


husbandry. Being then asked concerning Christ and what was 
the nature of His Kingdom, and who He was, and whence and 
when He was to come, they replied that His Kingdom was not of 
this world, nor was an earthly empire designed for Him, but that 
a heavenly empire was in preparation for Him through the min- 
istry of the angels; at which time He shall come in glory to 
judge of the quick and the dead, and to reward each man ac- 
cording to the measure of his deeds and merits. Whereupon 
Domitian, finding no offence in them and despising utterly their 
poverty and humble station, bade them go free.” 

So much from the authors whom I have named; from which 
‘t is clear that it was not from mercy, as beseems a prince, but 
rather from impious pride that he restrained the fury of his 
cruelty in the case of some of the faithful. If a royal race was 
thus reduced to such a pitiful handful, and to such utter poverty, 
that during the reign of Domitian scarcely two of the stock of 
David could be found, what man has any grounds to hope for 
perpetuity for himself in those who are begotten of his flesh and 
blood? And because Domitian sought the destruction of the 
Church of God and indeed of the whole empire, he experienced 
the same judgment of God upon himself, and was himself 
destroyed ; and his corpse was borne away on a cheap stretcher 
by grave-diggers of the night and buried most ignomini- 
ously. 

His successor Nerva revoked and invalidated all his acts, and 
after a reign which entitled him to be numbered among legitimate 
princes rather than among tyrants, died of disease, having 
adopted Trajan as his successor ; who ruled with such modera- 
tion that, as Augustus is considered to have been the most 
fortunate, so Trajan has long been regarded as the best of the 
emperors, and died, it is said, at Seleucia, a city of Isauria, of 
a hemorrhage of the stomach. He was succeeded by Helius 
Adrianus, the father of his country, who governed the common- 
wealth by most just laws, and when the Jews were stirred up by 


ar 


Pee ratscus VITI ro 363 


their own wickedness to burst into Palestine, subdued them 
with great slaughter, and avenged the Christians, whom they 
were sorely harassing, and decreed that no Jew should thence- 
forth be allowed to enter Jerusalem, giving the city solely to 
the Christians; and he repaired the walls and restored it to ex- 
cellent condition, and commanded that it should be called Helia, 
from his own first name. 

Antonius, surnamed the Pius, governed the empire peacefully 
and piously, succeeding Adrian together with his children, and 
deservedly was he called “pious” and “father of his country,” 
and, at the intercession of the philosopher Justin, showed him- 
self kind and well disposed toward the Christians. Marcus 
Antoninus Verus with his brother Aurelius Comodus succeeded 
Pius as emperor. Aurelius died of suffocation brought on by an 
attack of the disease which the Greeks call apoplexy; and after 
his death, his brother ruled the commonwealth alone, a man 
whom it is easier to marvel at than fitly to praise, if we believe 
Eutropius. From the beginning of his life he was of so calm 
and constant a temper that from infancy his countenance never 
altered either with joy or grief. He was taught philosophy ac- 
cording to the school of the Stoics and gave himself up to it 
completely, a philosopher alike in his life and his learning. He 
was instructed in philosophy by Apollonius of Calcedon, in the 
knowledge of Greek letters by Cheronesses the grandson of 
Plutarch, and in Latin literature by the noble orator Fronto, 
who is also supposed by some to have been a grandson of Plu- 
tarch. In the midst of all this he conducted a war which in 
magnitude can be compared with the Punic wars. And although 
through the prayers of Christian soldiers he brought his great 
wars to a successful conclusion, as the same emperor is said to 
have borne witness in his own letters, yet there broke out in 
his time a grievous persecution of them, and many of the saints 
were crowned with martydom. Finally, after he had associated 
his son Lucius Comodus in the government of the empire, he 


364 John of Salisbury 


died of a sudden illness at a place where he had halted in Pan- 
nonia. 

Lucius Antonius Comodus, the fifteenth in line from Augus- 
tus, was a man depraved by all the infamous vices of cruelty, 
lust and obscenity, often took part in gladiatorial combats, and 
frequently fought with beasts in the amphitheater. He also put 
to death many senators, especially those whom he observed to 
excel in nobility and industry. The city paid the penalty of the 
outrages of the king; the Capitol was struck by lightning, which 
ignited the great library that had been collected by the pains- 
taking care of previous generations, and with the rapidity of a 
whirlwind burned to the ground the other buildings located in 
the neighborhood. In spite of this it is said that it was blessed 
Gregory who burned the library of profane writings that there 
might be more ample room for the Holy Scriptures, and that 
their authority might be enhanced and their study more dili- 
gently pursued. The two stories are in no way incompatible, 
however, since the thing might have happened twice at different 
times. 

As for Comodus, he incommoded every one, and was finally 
murdered in the House of the Vestals, having already during his 
life-time been adjudged an enemy of the human race. And this 
is perhaps the best and fittest description of a tyrant and the one 
which explains the real significance of the name. Therefore, as 
‘t is lawful to kill a condemned enemy, so it is to kill a tyrant. 

Let it not be regarded as impairing the truth of this sum- 
mary that I have left out of account such emperors as Galba and 
Otho and their like. For our attention is not now directed 
to the question of the names or number of the emperors, but 
toward seeing how the mercy of God quelled or curbed the 
tyranny of all of them; for God, when He so desires, in ac- 
cordance with the decree of justice applies the scourge to 
punish offenders, and again, when He so desires, admits to 
pardon those whom He has made penitent. 


PPT RAE see." ck 


Pescraticus VIII ro 365 


I had determined to end at this point, and to turn from the 
Roman to other histories ; but since in the catalogue of the em- 
perors there occurs one from whom my own people take their 
name, to wit Severus, who practiced cruel tyranny against the 
name of Christ, I will add him, and him alone, to my list, that I 
may not seem out of leniency to spare the city of Severus, my 
own Salisbury. But verily this profane persecution of the 
Christians and the Church was followed by speedy vengeance 
from Heaven. For straightway there broke out civil wars, in 
which great quantities of Roman blood were spilled. This man, 
an African by race, a native of Tripoli from the town of Leptis, 
cruel by nature, living under the provocation of frequent wars, 
ruled the commonwealth harshly yet with the greatest industry. 
He fought with many nations to the end that he might triumph 
over many. He vanquished and put to death Pescenninus Niger 
who aspired to the tyranny ; the Jews and Samaritans, when they 
revolted, he reduced by the sword; he defeated the Parthians, 
the Arabs, and the Adiabeni. Such was Severus, conqueror 
of nations, who was summoned to Britain by the defection of 
almost all the allies here, and, after fighting many severe battles, 
recovered a part of the island, which he took care to mark off 
from the other unconquered tribes by a wall. And so he built 
that great foss and rampart of the solidest masonry, surmounted 
by frequent towers, which ran for one hundred and twenty-two 
miles from sea to sea. And then, as Orosius and other his- 
torians relate, he died of disease at the town of York. For 
truly Britain has ever had a horror of poison, and has never 
known how to employ her unconquered sword against her 
princes, but only in their defence. And the aforesaid town has 
grown with the passage of time to that pitch of power and 
bravery that it can dare compare itself today with the cities of 
antiquity ; and this fortune has come to it through being the 
burial place of so great an emperor. But as for Severus him- 
self, it is clear that after the manner of the gentiles and with 


306 John of Salisbury 


heathen depravity he practiced tyranny against the Christians 
and paid the penalty of his wickedness. For no one from the 
beginning of the centuries has borne himself as the likeness of 
the apostate angel without becoming a partaker of his damna- 
tion and utter confusion. 


~~ Te ree Ae ee ae), ee) «ee So a, ee Se ar eee ee Loa 
i es w Rg De PA eS Ie 


Pee PT ERX X 


THAT BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE DIVINE PAGE IT IS A LAWFUL 
AND GLORIOUS ACT TO SLAY PUBLIC TYRANTS, PROVIDED 
THAT THE SLAYER IS NOT BOUND BY FEALTY TO THE TYRANT, 
OR DOES NOT FOR SOME OTHER REASON SACRIFICE JUSTICE 
AND HONOR THEREBY. 


It would be a long and tedious task if I wished to bring down 
to our own times the series of gentile tyrants; a man with 
only one life will hardly be able to recall the list, for it eludes 
the mind and overpowers the tongue. My opinions on the 
subject of tyrants are, however, set forth more fully in my 
little work entitled “Of the Ends of Tyrants,” ! a brief manual 
wherein I have carefully sought to avoid the tedium of pro- 
lixity and the obscurity of too great compression. But lest 
the authority of Roman history be held in small account because 
it has for the most part been written by infidels concerning in- 
fidels, let its lesson be confirmed by examples drawn from 
sacred and Christian history. For it is everywhere obvious 
that, in the words of Valerius, only that power is secure in the 
long run which places bounds to its own exercise. And surely 
nought is so splendid or so magnificent that it does not need to 
be tempered by moderation. The earliest tyrant whom the 
divine page brings before us is Nembroth, the mighty hunter 
before the Lord (who is also called Ninus in some histories, 
although this does not agree with the proper reckoning of 
dates) ; and I have already said above that he was a reprobate. 


1 This work of John of Salisbury is not known to be extant. 
367 


308 John of Salisbury 


For verily he desired to be lord in his own right and not under 
God, and it was in his time that the attempt to raise a tower 
to Heaven was made by frail mortality, destined in their blind- 
ness to be overthrown and scattered in confusion. Let us, 
therefore, advance to him who was set over the people by the 
divine choice, which deserted him when he gave himself up to a 
wicked desire of ruling rather than of reigning, and in the end 
he was so utterly overthrown that in the anguish of his suffering 
he was compelled to put an end to himself. For a right and 
wholesome assumption of the royal office is of no avail, or only 
of very little, if the later life of the ruler is at variance there- 
with, nor does a judge look wholly to the origin of things, but 
makes his judgment to depend upon their outcome and ending. 

The well-known narrative of the Books of Kings and Chron- 
icles shows, according to the authority of Jerome,’ that Israel 
was oppressed by tyrants from the beginning and that Juda 
had none but wicked kings save only David, Josiah and Ezechiah. 
Yet I can easily believe that Salomon and perhaps some of 
the others in Juda recovered when God recalled them to the 
true way. And I will be readily persuaded that tyrants in- 
stead of legitimate princes were rightly deserved by a stiff- 
necked and stubborn people who always resisted the Holy Spirit, 
and by their gentile abominations provoked to wrath not 
Moyses only, the servant of the law, but God Himself, the Lord 
of the law. For tyrants are demanded, introduced, and raised 
to power by sin, and are excluded, blotted out, and destroyed 
by repentance. And even before the time of their kings, as 
the Book of Judges relates, the children of Israel were time with- 
out number in bondage to tyrants, being visited with affliction 
on many different occasions in accordance with the dispensa- 
tion of God, and then often, when they cried aloud to the 
Lord, they were delivered. And when the allotted time of their 


2In lerem. xxii, 14, Migne, P. L., t. xxiv, 811. 


Ree Se 


Peer eitcus VIII 20 369 


punishment was fulfilled, they were allowed to cast off the yoke 
from their necks by the slaughter of their tyrants; nor is blame 
attached to any of those by whose valor a penitent and humbled 
people was thus set free, but their memory is preserved in 
affection by posterity as servants of the Lord. This is clear 
from the subjoined examples. 

“The people of Israel were in bondage to Eglon the king 
of Moab for eighteen years; and then they cried aloud to God, 
who raised up for them a saviour called Aoth, the famous son 
of Iera, the son of Gemini, who used both hands with the same 
skill as the right hand. And the children of Israel sent presents 
to Eglon, the king of Moab, by him; and he made for himself 
a two-edged sword having in the midst a haft of the length 
of the palm of the hand, and girded himself therewith beneath 
his cloak on his right thigh, and presented the gifts to Eglon, 
the king of Moab. Now Eglon was exceeding fat; and when he 
had made an end of presenting the gifts, he went away after 
his companions who had come with him. But he himself 
turned back from Gilgal where the idols were, and said to the 
king, ‘I have a secret word for thy ear, O king.’ And the king 
commanded silence. And all that were about him having 
gone forth, Aoth came unto him. And he was sitting alone in 
a cool upper room. And Aoth said, ‘I have a word from God 
unto thee.’ And the king forthwith rose up from his throne. 
And Aoth put forth his left hand and took the dagger from 
his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly with such force 
that the haft also went into the wound after the blade, and 
the fat closed over it. And he did not draw out the sword, 
but left it in the body where it had entered. And straightway 
by nature’s secret passages, the excrements of his belly burst 
forth. But Aoth closed the doors carefully, and fastened them 
with the bolt and departed by a postern.’’ 3 


3 Judges iii, 14-24. 


370 John of Salisbury 


And elsewhere, ‘“‘Sisara, fleeing, came to the tent of yaeb the 
wife of Abner Cinei. For there was peace between Jabin the 
king of Asor and the house of Abner Cinei. Therefore, Jael 
went forth to meet Sisara and said unto him, ‘Come in to me, 
my lord, come in and fear not. And he, having entered her 
tent and been covered by her with a cloak, said to her, “Give me, 
I pray thee, a little water because I thirst greatly. And she 
opened a skin of milk, and gave him to drink, and covered 
him. And Sisara said to her, ‘Stand before the door of the 
tent and when any shall come inquiring of thee and shall say 
“Is there any man here?” thou shalt say, “No, there is none.” ’ 
Then Jael, the wife of Abner, took a nail of the tent, and took 
likewise a hammer. And entering softly and silently, she put the 
nail upon the temple of his head, and striking it with the ham- 
mer, drove it through his brain fast into the ground. And thus 
passing from sleep into death he fainted away, and died. 
Did she thereby win the praise or the censure of posterity? 
“Blessed among women shall be Jael the wife of Abner Cinei,” 
says the Scripture, “and blessed shall she be in her tent. He 
asked for water, and she gave him milk and offered him butter 
in a princely dish. She put her left-hand to the nail, and 
her right-hand to the workmen’s hammer, and she smote Sis- 
ara, seeking in his head a place for a wound, and piercing his 
temple forcefully.” ° 

Let me prove by another story that it is just for public 
tyrants to be killed and the people thus set free for the service 
of God. This story shows that even priests of God repute 
the killing of tyrants as a pious act, and if it appears to wear 
the semblance of treachery, they say that it is consecrated to 
the Lord by a holy mystery. Thus Holofernes fell a victim not 
to the valor of the enemy but to his own vices by means of a 
sword in the hands of a woman; and he who had been terrible 


4 Judges iv, 17-21. 5 Judges v, 24-26, — 


eS ee Ee ee 


ph i 


eee eee 


Se ee Se er 


peogeroticus PLL eo AY 


to strong men was vanquished by luxury and drink, and slain 
by a woman. Nor would the woman have gained access to 
the tyrant had she not piously dissimulated her hostile intention. 
For that is not treachery which serves the cause of the faith 
and fights in behalf of charity. For verily it was due to the 
woman's faith that she upbraided the priests because they had 
set a time-limit upon the divine mercy by agreeing with the 
enemy that they would surrender themselves and deliver up 
the city if the Lord should not come to their aid within five 
days. Likewise it was because of her charity that she shrank 
from no perils so long as she might deliver her brethten. and 
the people of the Lord from the enemy. For this is shown by 
her words as she went forth to save them: “Bring to pass, 
Lord,” she prayed, “that by his own sword his pride may be 
cut off, and that he may be caught in the net of his own eyes 
turned upon me, and do Thou destroy him, through the lips of 
my charity. Grant to me constancy of soul that I may despise 
him, and fortitude that I may destroy him. For it will be 
a glorious monument of Thy name when the hand of a woman 
shall strike him down.”°® “Then she called her maid, and, 
going down into her house, she took off her hair-cloth from 
her, and put away the garments of her widowhood, and bathed 
her body and anointed herself with the finest myrrh, and parted 
the hair of her head, and placed a mitre upon her head, and 
clothed herself with garments of gladness, binding sandals upon 
her feet, and donned her bracelets and lillies and ear-rings and 
finger-rings, and adorned herself with all her ornaments. And 
the Lord gave her more beauty because all this toilet was for 
the sake of virtue and not of lust. And therefore the Lord 
increased her beauty so that she appeared to the eyes of all 
men lovely beyond compare.’ * And thus arriving at her des- 
tination, and captivating the public enemy, “Judith spake unto 


6 Judith ix, 12-15, 7 Judith x, 2-4. 


372 John of Salisbury 


Holofernes, saying: ‘Receive the words of thy handmaid, for 
-£ thou wilt follow them, God will do a perfected work with 
thee. For Nebugodonosor, the king of the earth, liveth, and 
thy virtue liveth, which is in thee for the correction of all erring 
souls, since not men alone, but also the beasts of the field serve 
him through thee, and obey him. For the streneth and industry 
of thy mind is heralded abroad to all the nations, and it has 
been told to the whole age that thou alone art mighty and good 
in all his kingdom, and thy discipline is preached to all na- 
tions” ® And in addition she said, “I will come and tell all 
things to thee, so that I may bring thee through the midst of 
Jerusalem, and thou shalt have all the people of Israel as sheep 
that have no shepherd; and not a single dog shall bark against 
thee, because these things are told to me by the providence of 
God.’® What more insidious scheme, I ask you, could have 
been devised, what could have been said that would have been 
more seductive than this bestowal of mystic counsel ? And 
so Holofernes said: “There is not another such woman upon 
the earth in look, in beauty, or in the sense of her words.” '° 
For his heart was sorely smitten and burned with desire of her. 
Then he said, “Drink now and lay thee down for jollity since 
thou hast found favor in my sight.”1! But she who had not 
come to wanton, used a borrowed wantonness as the instrument 
of her devotion and courage. And his cruelty she first lulled 
asleep by her blandishments, and then with the weapons of 
affection she slew him to deliver her people. Therefore she 
struck Holofernes upon the neck, and cut off his head, and 
handed it to her maid that it might be placed in a wallet to be 
carried back into the city which had been saved by the hand 
of a woman. 

The histories teach, however, that none should undertake the 


8 Judith xi, 4-6. 9 Judith xi, 15-16. 
10 Judith xi, 19. 11 Judith xii, 17. 


Pret rvroticus: VIII: 20 a7 


death of a tyrant who is bound to him by an oath or by the 
obligation of fealty. For we read that Sedechias, because he 
disregarded the sacred obligation of fealty, was led into cap- 
tivity; and that in the case of another of the kings of Juda 
whose name escapes my memory, his eyes were plucked out be- 
cause, falling into faithlessness, he did not keep before his 
sight God, to whom the oath is taken; since sureties for good 
behavior are justly given even to a tyrant. 

But as for the use of poison, although I see it sometimes 
wrongfully adopted by infidels, I do not read that it is ever 
permitted by any law. Not that I do not believe that ‘tyrants 
ought to be removed from our midst, but it should be done 
without loss of religion and honor. For David, the best of all 
kings that I have read of, and who, save in the incident of Urias 
Etheus, walked blamelessly in all things, although he had to 
endure the most grievous tyrant, and although he often had an 
opportunity of destroying him, yet preferred to spare him, 
trusting in the mercy of God, within whose power it was to set 
him free without sin. He therefore determined to abide in 
patience until the tyrant should either suffer a change of heart 
and be visited by God with return of charity, or else should 
fall in battle, or otherwise meet his end by the just judgment of 
God. How great was his patience can be discerned from the 
fact that when he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe in the 
cave, and again when, having entered the camp by night, he 
rebuked the negligence of the sentinels, in both cases he com- 
pelled the king to confess that David was acting the juster part. 
And surely the method of destroying tyrants which is the most 
useful and the safest, is for those who are oppressed to take 
refuge humbly in the protection of God’s mercy, and lifting up 
undefiled hands to the Lord, to pray devoutly that the scourge 
wherewith they are afflicted may be turned aside from them. 
For the sins of transgressors are the strength of tyrants. 
Wherefore Achior, the captain of all the children of Amon, 


374 John of Salisbury 


gave this most wholesome counsel to Holofernes: “Inquire 
diligently, my lord,” said he, “whether there be any iniquity of 
the people in the sight of their God, and then let us go up to 
them, because their God will abandon them and deliver them to 
thee, and they shall be subdued beneath the yoke of thy power. 
But if there be no offence of this people in the sight of their 
God, we shall not be able to withstand them, because their God 
will defend them, and we shall be exposed to the reproach 
and scorn of all the earth.” ™ 


12 Judith v, 5, 24-25. 


yg 


fee PER XXII 


THAT ALL TYRANTS COME TO A BAD END; AND THAT GOD WILL 
PUNISH THEM IF THE HAND OF MAN SHOULD FAIL, AND 
THAT THIS IS SHOWN IN THE CASE OF JULIAN THE APOS- 
TATE AND MANY EXAMPLES FROM THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 


Thus the end of tyrants is confusion, leading to destruction 
if they persist in malice, to pardon if they return into the way 
of righteousness. For there is prepared a great fire wherewith 
to consume the scourge after the Father has employed it for 
the correction of His children. And it is written, ‘““Acab has 
humbled himself before my face; therefore will I not bring evil 
in his days.”+ But Jezebel, who persisted in cruelty, paid 
the penalty therefor in the merited cruelty of her end, giving 
her blood to be lapped up by dogs in the place where dogs had 
lapped up the blood of innocent Naboth. But if the blood of 
innocent Naboth was thus required at her hands, will not the 
blood of so many other innocent victims also be required? 
Her unrighteousness coveted the vineyard of a just man, and 


as the price thereof she lost her rights to a whole kingdom. 


Thus wickedness is always punished by the Lord; but some- 
times it is His own, and at others it is a human hand, which 
He employs as a weapon wherewith to administer punishment to 
the unrighteous. 

Pharao oppressed the people of God, and God scourged him, 
as we read in Exodus, with the most grievous plagues. That 
these may be briefly kept in mind with greater accuracy, I in- 
sert a metrical list of them: 


1] Kings xxi, 29. 
375 


376 John of Salisbury 


First a blood-red flood and second a slimy plague of frogs. 

Then the miserable louse and afterward the fly more harmful 
than the louse. 

Fifth the destruction of cattle, sixth the swelling of boils; 

Next followed hail, after that the locust with destructive tooth ; 

For the ninth, the sun was veiled in darkness, the last destroyed 
the first-born. 


I am not interested in the question of the authorship of these 
lines, but solely in the point that they include in the briefest 
compass all the plagues of Egypt in the time of Pharao. But 
in spite of them all, his anger was not turned aside from the 
people of God, but after their departure he pursued them with 
his chariots and horsemen, with whom he was drowned in the 
sea. For the Lord employed the waters as a wall of protection 
for the people, and as a weapon of offence for the overthrow 
of the tyrant. Again during the reign of Ezechias, Salmanasar 
oppressed the people of God, and the king, taking refuge in 
prayer, opposed the shield of the divine protection against the 
threats of the tyrant. Wherefore the Lord comforted him 
through the mouth of the prophet, saying: “He shall not enter 
into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it, neither shall he come 
before it with shield, nor cast a trench around it. He shall 
return by the way that he came, and he shall not enter into 
this city, saith the Lord. And I will defend this city and will 
save it for mine own sake and for the sake of my servant 
David.”2 And it was done accordingly on that very night. 
For there came an angel of the Lord and smote in the camp of 
the Assyrians an hundred and eighty-five thousand ; and when 
the king had risen at dawn, he saw all the bodies of the dead, 
and he departed and went away. And Sennacherib, the king 
of the Assyrians, returned and dwelt at Nineve. And while he 
was worshipping in the temple of Nesarach his God, his sons 
Adramelech and Sarasar struck him dead with a sword, and 


21] Kings xix, 32-34. 


Poltcraticus VITI 2r aay, 


escaped into the land of the Armenians; and Eseradon his son 
reigned in his stead. And let it cause no wonder if the king 
of whom we have been speaking is called by different names in 
different histories, because according to the Hebrew tradition, 
as Jerome tells, he had five names. For he was called Sal- 
manasar and Sennacherib and Phul and Teglad Phalasar and 
Sargon. For if we do not hold that he thus had a number 
of names, then the authority of the historians will be weakened 
because of their differences and contradictions. In this in- 
stance therefore the Lord employed first the sword of the 
angel against the army of the wicked king, and afterwards 
against the king himself He used the hands of his own sons. 

Nature herself is at times struck with amazement at the 
vengeance of the Most High, and is subservient in marvellous 
fashion to the laws of her Creator when provoked by the 
wickedness of men. Hence it is that Nabugodonosor, becom- 
ing swollen with pride against the Lord, was required for seven 
years to live the life of a beast, and then repenting, was turned 
again into a man and restored to his kingdom and fortune, al- 
though afterwards he deserved to be once more deprived of 
them by a most miserable death. 

I pass to Christian times, since among every nation and peo- 
ple the harmfulness of tyrants is manifested and their punish- 
ment is evident. The emperor Julian, the vile and filthy apos- 
tate, persecuted the Christians rather by guile than by the 
open use of force, yet he did not refrain from force. For under 
him arose the most grievous persecution of the Christians, 
and he sought by his impious attempt to blot out the very name 
of the Galilean, as he called Him. But while he was leading 
an ill-fated expedition against the Parthians, and on his return 
was offering up the slaughter of the Christians as a sacrifice 
to idols, God took pity upon the prayers of the great Basil and 
others of the saints, and appointed as his instrument the martyr 
Mercurius, who, at the command of the Blessed Virgin, pierced 


378 John of Salisbury 


the tyrant in his camp with a lance, and compelled the impious 
wretch as he was dying to confess that the Galilean, namely 
Christ, whom he persecuted, was victor and had triumphed 
over him. For when the aforesaid bishop had gathered together 
the faithful of Czesarea, in the church of the ever Virgin, the 
Mother of God, to watch out the night in prayer, on that 
same night the saint recognized the Blessed Virgin herself 
‘na vision and received consolation in this wise: “Call to me, ” 
said she, “Mercurius, and he shall depart to slay Julian, who 
proudly blasphemes against my Son and God.” Then the saint, 
taking his armor, went away swiftly, and she who had appeared 
to the great Basil, calling him to her, gave to him a book having 
in history all the creation of the world, and, on the right hand, 
the formation of man by God. In the beginning of the book 
was the superscription, “Speak,” and at the end, after the crea- 
tion of man, the word “Spare.” And then, taking up the book, 
he read from the beginning to the word “Spare.” On the same 
night, a similar vision was seen by Libanius, the questor of Ju- 
lian on his expedition. Basil, returning to the place of martyr- 
dom of blessed Mercurius on that night, did not find the arms 
of Mercurius, but found them on the following day, and: the 
lance was still gory with fresh blood. Orosius, ‘however, 
makes no mention of the martyr Mercurius, but merely re- 
lates that on the expedition against the Parthians the life of the 
tyrant was taken by a soldier who lay in wait for him. Eu- 
tropius also, who summarizes Roman history in an admirable 
handbook, says only that he was killed in the camp, but does 
not name the author of his death; but it is generally agreed 
that he was greatly injured by the persecution which according 
to the same author he carried on immoderately against the Chris- 
tians. But the Tripartite History traces in greater detail the 
crimes of Julian, and the entire sixth book thereof is devoted 
to describing the enormities wherewith he persecuted Christ, 
whom he called the Galilean. From which I will insert in 


4 omens + eB yen ee 


Porecraticus VIIT er 379 


praise of the Galilean several short extracts culled from that 
which, on the authority of Cassiodorus, has been written con- 
cerning this emperor by Socrates, Theodoritus, and Sozomen. 

Julian, then, was sprung of royal blood, being through Con- 
stantius the nephew of Constantine the Great, who called Bisan- 
tium Constantinople after his own name. He was at first a 
Christian, and growing up in the schools of the city of Con- 
stantinople, was educated in the Basilica where the learned doc- 
tors were, and wore the garb of a person of private station. 
He had a tutor named Marconius and studied grammar with 
Niclodes the Laconian. He also read rhetoric with the sophist 
Eubolius, who had by now become a Christian through the ef- 
forts and care of the great Basil; for the emperor saw to it 
that he should not deviate into the dogmas of infidelity by study- 
ing with a pagan sophist. He progressed so well that rumor 
‘attributed to him the ability to govern the empire. Wherefore 
coming under the suspicion of the emperor, he was ordered to 
absent himself from the imperial city, and being sent to Nico- 
media, he was bidden not to consort with Libanius, the Sirian 
sophist, who was a pagan, and was sojourning there after his 
expulsion by the tutors of Constantinople. Nevertheless, he 
used much to read in his books, and becoming proficient in 
rhetoric, he entered into familiar relations with Maximus, the 
Ephesian philosopher, whom later the emperor Valentinian 
caused to be put to death for practising magic arts. After he 
had tasted philosophic terminology through the latter’s means, 
he commenced to imitate his religion also, and was more and 
more inflamed with ambition for the empire. But fearing the 
emperor, and seeking to avoid suspicion, he had his head shaven 
and made pretence of the monastic life, acting the traitor in the 
garb of a Christian, and was ordained a reader in the church of 
Nicomedia, thus averting the wrath of the emperor. In public 
he read the sacred books of the Christians and in private prac- 
tised himself in philosophy, his ambition for empire growing 


380 John of Salisbury 


ever the while: wherefore he would say to his friends that 
happy would be the times wherein he would be master of im- 
perial power. - And indeed he would not have escaped the heavy 
hand of the emperor, had not the empress Eusebia, finding him 
one day as he lurked in hiding, and interceding for him, ob- 
tained for him the favor of being sent to Athens to study 
philosophy. Theodoritus relates that, sallying forth from there, 
he quested over all Greece for sooth-sayers, inquiring of them 
whether he should ever attain to the imperial throne. And. 
finding a man who professed himself most potent in magic, he 
was introduced by him into the place of idols that he might in 
person consult the demons conjured up by the mage. And when 
they solemnly appeared, Julian was compelled to make upon 
his forehead the sign of the cross; whereat the demons sud- 
denly vanished. The mage therefore began to reprove Julian ; 
but the latter, pretending fear, said that he was amazed at the 
power of the cross, because at this sign the demons fled. “Do 
not suppose, my good man,” said the mage, “that they fled for 
fear, as you say, but rather they departed because they abom- 
inate this sign.” And thus deceiving the poor wretch, he filled 
Julian with hatred for the mark of a Christian. After this, as 
Socrates informs us, the emperor, summoning Julian, appointed 
him Cesar, and giving him his sister Constantia to wife, sent 
him to Gaul to fight against the barbarians. 

Fortune favored him, and he commenced to vanquish the bar- 
barians, which won for him the love of the soldiers. It is 
said that after he had entered a certain city, a laurel wreath 
of the kind wherewith cities are wont to be decorated fell 
from its place among the columns through the breaking of the 
cord whereby it hung, and lighting on the head of Julian, 
crowned him most aptly. Whereat all cried aloud that it was 
a sign that he would be emperor. Thereafter, when he joined 
battle with the enemy, he met with such good fortune that 
his soldiers hailed him Augustus. And since no crown im- 


ee i et ie ek ae 


Peeemaraticus Vidl «27 381 


perial was at hand, one of his standard-bearers placed about 
his head a necklace which he had; and in this manner Julian 
was made emperor. 

Let the later deeds of that philosopher be judged by those 
who hear them related. For first of all he disposed all things 
according to his arbitrary will and caprice, and cast off all 
pretence of the Christian religion, and opening the temples 
of city after city, he sacrificed to idols, saying that he was 
chief-priest of the pagans. He would have rent the empire 
with civil war, had not the death of the emperor Constantius 
been announced to him as he was sojourning in Thrace. To 
win for himself the favor of the multitude, he granted to all 
the right of choosing every man for himself the religion that 
he pleased. Hereby he hoped to become all things to all men. 
By turns he was generous for the sake of vainglory, and frugal 
with an affected pretence of philosophy. At times he was cour- 
teous with spurious politeness, and again grave with the weight 
of empire, and what was most important of all, he assumed a 
false and deceitful mercifulness in order that he might not be 
thought cruel. However, what manner of man he really was, 
was shown by his religion. He bade the bishops to be sum- 
moned and deported into exile and their goods rendered up unto 
him and confiscated. He also commanded his followers to 
open the temples of the pagans with all haste, and he ordered 
that what had been carried away from them should be re- 
stored without delay. He expelled from the palace the eunuchs, 
barbers, and cooks; the eunuchs because his wife had died, after 
which he did not marry another; the cooks because after the 
fashion of a philosopher he affected simple food; the barbers 
because, as he said, one sufficed for many. He bestowed high 
honor upon authors and the teachers of the learned arts, but 
most of all upon philosophers. His reputation drew swarms 
of men of this kind to the palace from every direction, all 
wrapped in cloaks, and proclaiming their profession rather by 


382 John of Salisbury 


their garb than by the quality of their instruction. And these 
men were seducers grievous to all Christians, and were always 
favoring the religion of the emperor. During his nightly vigils 
he composed books which he read publicly in the Senate; for 
alone of the emperors since Julius Caesar he recited orations in 
the curia. He forbade the public racing of mules and horses, 
bidding them be put to public uses. These acts of his are praised 
by a few but censured by most, because when pomp is removed 
from the palace, the Empire seems to fall into contempt. 
Sozomen says that at the very beginning he so openly and 
shamelessly denied the Christian faith that by certain sacrifices 
and incantations which the pagans call “expeditiones,” and by 
blood offerings, he sought to wipe out the effects of our bap- 
tism and renounce his professions of membership in the Church. 
From that time forward both secretly and publicly the pagans 
were permitted freely to celebrate their sacrifices in their temples. 
It is also told that once when he was sacrificing there was shown 
to him in the entrails of a sacrificial victim the sign of the 
cross surrounded with a crown. Upon seeing which, the rest 
were struck with terror and recognized the power of the true 
religion and the everlasting might of the dogma of Christ, be- 
cause the crown is the symbol of victory and the circumference 
of a circle, returning into itself, knows no end; but the em- 
peror, comforting them, asserted that it was rather an omen 
of good fortune for himself, and that the symbol of Christian 
dogma was shown to be restrained within limits, so that it 
should not be permitted to expand beyond the boundary of the 
circle. Once when Gallus and Julian were still boys, when 
they were building a basilica together at the tomb of the mar- 
tyr Mammas, and had divided the work between them, and 
were contending with one another as to whose part should be 
finished first, a marvellous thing, and one which is perhaps 
incredible, is said to have occurred. For the part of Gallus in- 


a waar Ts 


ie. .. 
ra 


fon oF 


RN eee ee Pee a ee a eS PR Re Rm Ee ae Ee oes See ee aL 


Policraticus VIII e271 383 


creased and grew solidly ; but the labors of Julian either caved 
in, or by a-motion of the earth became filled up with rubble, 
or again the foundations could not be firmly planted in the 
earth, as if some violent power from below were repelling them 
by reverberations. The thing seemed marvellous to all who 
saw it, and they accordingly supposed that that man could not 
be sound in the Christian faith. Nor were they mistaken; 
as was afterwards disclosed. For he despoiled the churches 
and the ministers thereof of their possessions and privileges, 
and, what was beyond all measure oppressive and outrageous, 
bade clerics to be included with the soldiers told off to serve the 
duke of a province, and transferred a large number of them to 
the court. He ordered the names of all the Christian people 
with their wives and children to be recorded, and commanded 
them to pay tribute like villagers; and he made a decree sub- 
jecting all the “Galileans” to a wretched abatement of civil 
status. But at the outset, by leniency to the Christians, he made 
a show of mildness, knowing that earlier persecutors had 
achieved no success by the punishment of the Christians, who 
on the contrary had drawn increase of numbers therefrom, and 
had won glory by dying for the true dogma. Therefore, envy- 
ing them their glory, he refrained from torture, thinking that 
it was necessary rather to use persuasion and exhortation to 
turn the people to the cult of paganism, and hoping also in this 
wise to gain a reputation for mercy. For it is said that once 
at Constantinople, when he was sacrificing before the Fortune 
of the City, Maris the bishop of Calcedon came up to him and 
publicly denounced him as an impious and godless apostate. But 
the emperor, going no further than to taunt him with his blind- 
ness, because the blind old man had to be led about by the 
hand of another, added, “Nor can thy Galilean God cure thee.” 
Maris replied, “I give thanks to God who has done this thing 
that I might not behold thee stripped of piety.” Whereat the 


384 John of Salisbury 


emperor went away in silence, imitating a philosopher, that by 
his ostentatious forbearance he might strengthen the cause of 
paganism. 

Moreover by law he forbade sons of Galileans to learn the 
arts of poetry, rhetoric and philosophy. “We are wounded,” he 
said, “with our own weapons, according to the proverb; for 
armed with aid from us, out of the mouths of our own writers 
they undertake to wage war against us.” And he made another 
law ordering Galileans to be expelled from the military ser- 
vices. He added still another to the effect that the goods of 
Galileans should be taken from them, since their Christ had 
enjoined poverty upon them. In the time of this emperor, Apol- 
linaris, a man of learning and genius, wrote of Hebrew antiquity 
sn heroic verses modelled upon the poem of Homer, and in 
another work imitated the comedies of Menander, having re- 
moved the fabulous elements. He also imitated the- tragedies 
of Euripides and the lyric odes of Pindar; and it must be 
said without reserve that, taking his themes from the Divine 
Scriptures, he covered in a short time the whole encyclopedia 
of the arts, his works in each field being fully the equal of 
the Greeks in metre, moral power and tone, style, character- 
ization and arrangement. He also made a noble book entitled 
“To the Emperor himself, or against the Philosophers,” wherein, 
saying nothing on the authority of the Holy Scriptures, he 
proved the folly of these men by irrefutable reason itself, and 
demonstrated the truth of his own opinions concerning God. 
Upon reading which book the emperor wrote to the leading bish- 
ops, “I have read and found only matter for censure.” To 
which the bishops replied, “Although you may have read, 
you have not understood ; for had you understood, you would 
have found nought to censure.” Basil the Capadocene is sup- 
posed to have been the author of this letter. 

Coming to Antioch, the emperor was ridiculed because he had 
allowed his beard to grow very long, and the people of Antioch 


Pore narous «III 27 385 


said, “Let him be shaven, that his beard may be put to some 
use by being woven into rope.” And because he was wont 
to offer a bull as a sacrifice, he ordered a bull and an altar to be 
placed by his throne. Then the people railed thereat, saying, 
“This bull is upsetting the world,” and had not Libanius re- 
strained him, he would have punished severely the people of 
Antioch, against whom he then wrote a book which is really 
quite witty. Furthermore, in order to incite and arm the Jews 
against Christ, he commanded them.to restore the temple at 
Jerusalem. When they came together at this summons from 
all the corners of the earth, he gave them many supplies and 
sent them a governor, a fit agent and instructor of impiety. For 
they say that for the purpose of repurification they had buckets 
and baskets and basins of silver; and that when they commenced 
to dig, on the appointed day the multitude made a great begin- 
ning. But during the night the earth of its own accord rose 
up and filled the excavation. Next, clearing away what remained 
of the earlier foundation, they prepared everything anew. 
And when they had collected many thousand measures of 
gypsum and lime, there suddenly came a great storm of wind 
blowing in tempests and whirlwinds, and scattered all that had 
been collected. But since they still persisted in their madness, 
and were in no wise snatched therefrom by the divine long- 
suffering, there was first a great earthquake; and all who were 
not initiated in the divine mysteries were thrown down violently. 
As not even this sign sufficed to terrify them, a fire bursting 
forth from under the foundations, which were being dug, cre- 
mated many of the workers and cost others the loss of limbs. 
That night while many were sleeping in a portico near-by, 
the portico suddenly collapsed, bringing down its roof, and 
crushing the sleepers. On the following day there appeared 
resplendent in the sky the sign of the cross of salvation, and 
also the garments of the Jews were covered with small marks 
in the form of crosses, but imprinted not in bright colors 


386 John of Salisbury 


but in black. And so, reflecting upon these signs, and trembling 
before the divine scourge, these rebels against God at last be- 
took themselves again to their own affairs, confessing that Ee 
was indeed God who is proved to have been hung upon the tree 
by their forebears. 

Nevertheless, the fury of the impious emperor was not averted 
by all this, but with hardened heart he commanded that all who 
refused to offer sacrifices should be denied admittance to the 
palace and should not be allowed to participate in any guild or 
college, nor in any legal business or arbitration, nor in any 
dignity or administrative office whatsoever. But when the 
Christians were tortured or despoiled, he recommended patience 
to them on the ground that their Galilean had enjoined this 
upon his followers both by the express word of His law and 
also by the testimony of His own acts. Wherefore many of 
the Christians back-slid, either because they were prostrated by 
fear or deceived by guile, and so the ferocity of the pagans 
increased. Julian, to the end of habituating the soldiers to 
idolatry the more easily, undertook to restore the earlier design 
of that standard borne aloft by the Romans which Constantine 
had altered to the form of a cross. And in public statues he 
caused Jupiter to be represented as defending from heaven the 
emperor’s crown and purple, and Mercury and Mars looking 
down upon him, with protecting glances, as if in witness to his 
wisdom and bravery; doing this in the matter of the statues 
to the end that the gods might be covertly worshipped on the 
pretext of worshipping the empire, and that his subjects, de- 
ceived in this fashion, might be beguiled the more readily to 
do that which he desired. But if they proved obstinate, they 
would be tortured as disloyal to the empire. He approved, how- 
ever, the zeal and works of the Christians although ‘he perse- 
cuted their faith: and the practice of the virtues whereby he 
sought to strengthen the error of the pagans, he pretended was 
not real but only simulated among the Christians. Therefore 


a eee ee ae 


eee ee a, 


aa 


Peigeraticus Vill. 2r 387 


he determined to strip their virtues from them, and to indoctrin- 
ate and train the pagans in Christian morals separated from the 
Christian faith; and he also wished them to cultivate philosophy, 
as is shown by the following letter which he wrote to Arsacius 
the high-priest of Galatia: “The pagan cult is not yet prac- 
tised according to our intention because of the negligence of 


its votaries. The fame, greatness, and sublimity of the gods 


exceed all power of speech and all hope. May the gods still 
be gracious to us in respect of our negligence, since their 
providence in so short a time has wrought so great a change as 
no one at the outset would have dared even to pray for. ° Since, 
therefore, we believe that this can suffice, we are in no wise 
concerned at the manner in which the superstition of the Chris- 
tians has been increased by the efforts of pilgrims and by the 
many consolations and attempts at honest conversations around 
burial places and the bodies of the dead, since among that sect 
such things are not genuine but false. But these things among 
us should, I think, be done truthfully. Therefore, it is not 
enough that you should yourself be such a man, but also all the 
priests throughout Galatia without exception. Do you there- 
fore entreat them earnestly or persuade them by reason, or defi- 
nitely remove them from their priestly office without delay, 
unless with their wives and children and slaves they submit 
their necks to the gods, no longer tolerating their slaves or 
children who hold in contempt the doing of this, or Galileans 
who act with impiety against the gods, and prefer impiety to 
piety. Next admonish all that no priest shall go abroad to pub- 
lic spectacles or drink in taverns, or preside over any guild, 
or over base or shameful works. Let those who obey be 
honored, displace those who disobey. Establish hospices in 
every city, that pilgrims may enjoy our charity, not only our 
own people, but strangers who are in need of money. That you 
may have wherewith this can be done, I have meanwhile decreed 
that in each year thirty thousand measures of wheat shall be 


388 John of Salisbury 


donated throughout the whole of Galatia and sixty thousand 
sextarii of wine. Of these the fifth part should be doled out 
to the poor who frequent the temple observances, the rest dis- 
tributed to pilgrims and those who are in need. For it is a 
shameful thing that impious Galileans should not turn away 
Jews from their doors, but rather give them food quite as if 
they were of their own people, and should do the same to our 
people, while our people are forsaken and neglected by their 
own. Wherefore teach the pagans to make contributions for 
these ministrations, and bid the pagan villages to make offerings 
of first fruits. And give instruction to those who are recipi- 
ents of benefits of this kind, teaching them that these alms 
belonged but shortly before to our people. Homer approves 
this in the story which he introduces of Emenius doing such 
things. As it is, we are not imitating the good works of our 
own people, but are leaving them to others, being not so much 
disordered by negligence as, in fact, rather spewing reverence 
for the gods out of our mouths. Accordingly, if I learn of your 
doing these things, I shall be full of joy. Only in rare in- 
stances receive provincial governors into your house, transmit 
written communications to them frequently. When they enter 
the city, let none of the priests go forth to meet them. And 
when they come to the temples of the gods, let none of their 
soldiers or of the officials who precede them enter the doors 
before them, but let who will follow after. When he arrives 
at the threshold of the temple, let him thereafter be considered 
as a private individual. For within, you, as you know, are 
the judge; this is obviously required by reverence for that which 
is holy. Those who are obedient in the face of the truth are 
pious, those who resist vainglory are approved. For what 
ought one to suffer, or what aid would he deserve, who refuses 
to have the favor of the: Mother of the Gods? Those, there- 
fore, who neglect her, will not only not escape accusation, but 
will also incur the zeal of our indignation. For it is not right 


at ab Srey AS OR 0d Oia me 
Swe ee ee vs 


EES Sp 


moermeraivcus VY bil ar 389 


to spare one who holds the gods as enemies. Persuade them 
above all that if they wish to enjoy my protection, all must strive 
to offer up worship to the Mother of the Gods.” 

Thus he wrote, and organized the temples of demons after 
the likenesses of a church, and instituted ministers of different 
grades on the model of the clergy, to the end that there might 
be some who should teach others the cult of infidelity and re- 
form penitents after the commission of a fault by moderate 
correction according to the Christian practice. But nothing 
which was done by the pagans against Christ was considered an 
enormity. This was true to the point that the pagans did not 
regard it as inhuman or even cruel to practise their ferocity 


against the dead. Wherefore in the city of Sebasta they opened 


the tomb of John the Baptist, set fire to it and scattered his 
bones and ashes to the winds. But if I wished to enumerate 
even the chief of his crimes or to summarize what was done by 
his means against the Church throughout the world, many great 
volumes would be required, so copious is the material. But let 
us hasten on toward the end which the righteous Galilean, the 
Son of the undefiled Virgin, inflicted by His might upon the 
impious persecutor for the comfort of His Church and the 
glory of His majesty wherein He is co-equal and of one sub- 
stance with the Father. | 

The emperor, then, girding himself up for his Persian expe- 
dition, sent, as was his wont, to Delphi and Delos and Dodona, 
to consult whether it was expedient for him to go forth to the 
wars. And all the seers and soothsayers promised him victory, 
inspired with one reply among the rest which as an example 
of mendacity and seduction I shall not be sorry to insert. It 
was to this effect: “Now we all advance to the victory of God, 
bringing back trophies near the river Thiris; of these I shall 
be leader, Mars, the wager of war.’ Whoever believes in 
Phicius, the prince of the Muses and lord of reckonings, let 
him interpret the force and meaning of this prophecy if he 


300 John of Salisbury 

can. Whereby the miserable wretch was heartened to dream 
dreams of all manner of victories for himself, arid so pre- 
pared also to wipe out utterly the Galileans. But by most, 
as was proper, the vile apostate was despised. In Antioch there 
dwelt a certain excellent man, a tutor of youths, and there also 
was the famous sophist Libanius, living in expectation of the 
victory of Julian and having his threats before his eyes. So 
he said in derision of the true religion, “Now what do you 
think the carpenter’s son is doing?” But the pedagogue, filled 
with grace, replied, “Oh Sophist, the creator of all things, whom 
you have called the carpenter’s son, is making a coffin wherein 
to bury Julian.” A few days afterwards news came of the 
death of Julian, and he was carried into the city in a coffin, 
and all fear of his threats was brought to an end. At about the 
same time a most religious man, Julian surnamed Saba, being 
asked by the priests as to the cause of his sudden light- 
heartedness, replied: “The wild beast who tramples down the 
sacred vine has been called upon to pay the penalty of his 
devastations, and is dead, and all his threats and terrors are 
vain, 

But it remains to set forth in order the facts concerning the 
death of the impious persecutor. Accordingly, after having 
afflicted the citizens no less than the enemy in the Persian war 
with manifold labors and suffering from hunger and other 
causes, he came at length to the city of Thesiphon, where he so 
closely besieged the king that the latter sent frequent embassies 
to offer him a part of his kingdom if he would end the war and 
depart ; which offer the emperor spurned in his pride, and not 
considering that while it is good to conquer, to do more than 
conquer is odious. For he trusted to magic arts, and following 
the opinion of Pithagoras that souls migrate into different bodies, 
he believed that he possessed the soul of Alexander, or rather 
that he was another Alexander in a second body. The Romans 
complained against their prince, who was thus unwilling to 


Porgeraticus VITI ar 391 


bring the war to an end, but nevertheless they continued to offer 
| resistance to the attacks of the Persians, so that sometimes one 
} side, and again the other, was routed and put to flight. Julian, 
sitting upon his horse, inspired the army with courage. He 
was practically unarmed, trusting in his hope of his own good 
} fortune; some one suddenly hurled a javelin at him, which, 
passing through his arm, buried itself deeply in his side. This 
wound cost him his life. Who inflicted this most righteous 
wound remains, however, to this day unknown. But some say 
that it was inflicted by an invisible hand, others by an Ismahel- 
j itish shepherd, others by a soldier maddened by hunger and 
weariness ; but whether man or angel, it is clear that he was a 
minister of the divine commands. For they say that after he 
had been wounded, he filled his hand with blood and threw it 
into the air, saying: “Thou has conquered, Galilean, thou hast 
| conquered”; and therein confessed His victory, though blas- 
| phemously. 

Thus he died in the third year of his reign as emperor, 
and the thirty-first of his age; but to good men he seemed 
to have lived too long; and they proclaimed the victory of the 
Galilean not only in the churches but also in the theaters. For 
} all shouted aloud, “Thou great fool, where are now thy proph- 
esyings? God and His Christ have conquered.” After the 
death of the blasphemer, there were found in the temples stu- 
pendous images of the prince, and marvellous tokens of his 
} celebrated and highly praised wisdom and piety. For when the 
| temple at Carrae was opened, which he had ordered to remain 
closed until his return, there was found the body of a woman 
| suspended by the hair, having the hands extended and the womb 
| opened, in whose liver he had sought to find an augury of the 
outcome of his Persian war. Again, in Antioch they found in 
} the palace many chests filled with human heads, and countless 
dead bodies thrown into the wells. These monstrous crimes, 
which befitted neither an emperor nor a philosopher, but rather 


392 John of Salisbury 


a blasphemer and magician, the enemy of God and man, are 
narrated at greater length in the Tripartite History. 

Among the people of Britain also, as is shown by a certain 
episode from the history of our nation, the hand of the most 
glorious martyr king Eadmund was employed by God to thwart 
and punish the madness of tyranny. For when Swain was 
pillaging and laying waste the isle of Britain, of which he had 
in great part taken possession, and was afflicting the members of 
Christ with manifold persecutions, he burdened the province 
sorely by laying thereon a tax which in the language of the 
English they call the Danegeld, and he commanded the prop- 
erties of the aforesaid martyr to be subjected to the tax. Sup- 
plications and entreaties were addressed to him; he spurned 
them. A brother in religious orders was sent by the martyr 
to warn the tyrant under threat of punishment not to oppress 
the Church of Christ, the house of the martyr and his free 
household with unmeet servitude. But his impiety proved 
deaf to prayers, was incensed at the warning, and hardened 
by the threats; and inflicting insults and injuries upon the 
humble messenger, he hastened the avenging hand of God, 
provoked the scourge, and by despising the forbearance of God 
rushed on with blind temerity to his death. Nor was it slow 
to come. For as he was going about the camp in the midst of 
his soldiers, and while he was alone, as he himself has con- 
fessed, he suddenly saw the blessed Eadmund at his side hold- 
ing a sword, wherewith, after reproaching him severely, the 
martyr struck him dead. For the tyrant expired in his tracks, 
and from that day, although the island has had grievous tyrants, 
the church of blessed Eadmund has ever remained immune from 
the imposition of the aforesaid tribute. For none of them has 
dared to provoke the martyr or to put himself in peril by 
oppressing his church. But in our own days Eustace, the son 
of Stephen, who had determined to vent his fury and cruelty 
against the Church of God, after he had ravaged all things 


Poiseratitcns VIII at 393 


as far as his power extended, and saw that the lands of blessed 
Eadmund, to which all robbers had shown respect, were wealthy, 
and did not belong to him,—this Eustace, having consumed 
all the resources of the kingdom whence time after time he 
could draw the pay for his soldiers (for free gifts had by now 
been exhausted), ravaged the estates of the aforesaid church. 
But he had not yet digested the food which he had procured 
from the resources of the place, and on the very day before he 
was to betake himself to his own home, which was altogether 
too near at hand, he was touched by the hand of the martyr 
and smitten with a fatal disease, whereof on about the eighth 
day the departed this life and all his fortunes. But why lin- 
ger upon a select few? To speak of those of our own 
land, where are now Gaufred, Milo, Ranulf, Alan, Simon, Gil- 
bert, men who were not so much counts of the kingdom as 
public enemies? Where is William of Salisbury? Where is 
Marmion, who at the touch of the Blessed Virgin fell into the 
pit which he had himself prepared? Where are the rest, whose 
very names would fill a book? Their malice is indeed notable, 
their infamy famous, and their unhappy endings a thing whereof 
the present age cannot be ignorant. If, therefore, a man is not 
acquainted with ancient history, if he does not know how Cirus 
who put kings to flight was overthrown by Tamiris, the queen 
of the Scitians, if he does not recollect the mischances and 
downfalls of by-gone tyrants, let him attend to the things 
which are forced upon his unwilling eyes, and he will see more 
clearly than the light of day that all tyrants are miserable. 


CHA PT Ei Kis 
OF GEDEON, THE PATTERN OF RULERS; AND OF ANTIOCHUS. 


I therefore do not understand what object men who strive to 
oppress the commonwealth, that is to say the people of God, with 
the yoke of unmeet servitude, desire to attain for themselves, 
unless perchance they lust after power to the end that they 
may endure powerfully the torments of misery. For if they 
only desired to reign and not to rule with a high hand, they 
would justly estimate the burden of office and by no means run 
after it with such frantic avidity. For the will of a true 
ruler depends upon the law of God and does not prejudice lib- 
erty. But the will of a tyrant is a slave to his desire, and re- 
belling against the law, which cherishes liberty, strives to impose 
upon his fellow-slaves the yoke of slavery. This the Scrip- 
ture teaches, which it is not lawful to contradict. “All the 
men of Israel said unto Gedeon: ‘Rule thou over us, both thou 
and thy son, and thy son’s son also, for thou hast delivered 
us from the hand of Madian.’ And Gedeon said unto them, 
‘T will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, 
but the Lord shall rule over you.’ And he said unto them, 
‘One request I make of you, that ye would give me the ear- 
rings of your spoil.’’”’?* I seem to myself to see what I have 
just said reflected on the face of this passage. For Gedeon, 
which being interpreted signifies one who circumvents the un- 
profitable or who puts their iniquity to the test, here seems to 
point out in express words the duty and office of a prince. 


1 Judges viii, 22 ff. 
394 


footer poticus VILLI 22 395 


For it is his duty to circumvent the things which are unprofit- 
able, and either destroy them or restore them to fruitfulness, 
and to exclude from the boundaries of his territories whatever 
of injustice he discovers therein, to the end that victory over his 
enemies may be vouchsafed to him. The honor of lordship is 
offered him and he refuses it; but he subjects to the law those 
whom he frees from the yoke of slavery. To his sons is offered 
the honor of succeeding their father; but he preferred rather 
that God should be honored. Who will rightly liken to such a 
man those who confuse right and wrong, who labor indefati- 
gably to the end that they may leave to their children a heritage 
not so much of honor as of plunder and iniquity? For who is 
there who does not prefer his own children to God’s Law and 
to His justice, which consists solely in charity? It is written 
that “he that loveth father or mother or children more than he 
loveth me, is not worthy of me.”? And surely those who 
prefer transitory things to Christ shall themselves pass away 
more quickly than those transitory things; nor is the glory 
of them perpetuated in whose eyes, postponing Him to other 
things, Christ remains inglorious. Therefore let the prince be 
in fear of downfall, who, forgetful of charity, and moved by 
love of his children or some other affection of the flesh, dimin- 
ishes the divine honor. 

There is, of course, none who is willing to confess that he 
is a rebel against God; and yet the number of such rebels is 
exceeding great, and today such things are done openly. Anti- 
ochus entered the sanctuary with pride and haughtiness; and 
today this is done by many. Ozias, whom the infallible Book 
records to have been in many things a just man, upon the death 
of Zacharias the priest, whose surname signifies “the intelli- 
gent,” invaded the precincts set apart for the priesthood with 
insolent impiety, and when the Levites cried out against him, 


2 Matt. x, 37: 


396 John of Salisbury 


“Art thou not Ozias the king, and no priest?” he scorned to 
hear them. But straightway a leprosy attacked that part of his 
body which the priests in accordance with the law covered with 
the plate of gold, so that in fulfilment of the prophetic impre- 
cation his face might be filled with iniquity.° This king iS 
notable among other kings of the same time and for the further 
fact that in the year of his death was born that Romulus from 
whom descended the race of the Romans. Very many imitate 
Ozias by presuming against the prerogatives of the priesthood, 
but very few blush with the shame of his leprosy. Even more 
follow in the footsteps of Antiochus, who entered the sanctuary — 
not that he might with due devotion offer sacrifice in the place 
of the priest, but rather that he might destroy whatever was 
holy in the temple of the Lord. For after Antiochus had 
caused to be made an idol of desolation and abomination, he 
burned with fire the books of the law of God and destroyed 
them; and whosoever was found to have in his possession the 
books of the covenant of God, and whosoever kept the law 
of God, was in accordance with the edict of king Antiochus 
foully put to death. I have seen men in my own time meddling 
in the sacred offices and rashly lifting up their shoulders to 
snatch away the ark from the shoulders of the Levites, and who 
seem to have forgotten the place which unto the present day 
is called the place of Ozias’ smiting. Others I have seen who 
consign the books of the law to the fire and do not scruple to 
destroy them if the laws or canons come into their hands. In 
the time of King Stephen the Roman laws were ordered out 
of the kingdom, whereof the knowledge had been received into 
Britain through the household of the venerable father Theo- 
bald, the primate of Britain. By a royal edict it was forbidden 
even to keep the books, and silence was enjoined upon our Va- 
carius; but by the power of God the virtue of the law was 


3 See II Chron. xxvi, 16-22. 


Poricraticus VIII 22 397 


strengthened the more by the efforts of impiety to weaken it. 
Who is there among so many thousand ambitious to rule who 
wishes to be like unto Gedeon? Or who wishes the law to rule 
over himself and over the people? And yet all should be 
content with what Gedeon asked of his subjects, namely if 
from the booty he obtains for himself only the ear-rings. For 
if his care were only to proclaim the words of the law, the 
people would be content to obey him, so that there would be no 
iniquity and strife in the state; and it should surely suffice to 
the ruler to content the people over whom he presides. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


THAT THE ADVICE OF BRUTUS IS TO BE EMPLOYED AGAINST THOSE 
WHO NOT MERELY CONTEND BUT SCHISMATICALLY FIGHT 
FOR THE SUPREME PONTIFICATE;, AND THAT FOR TYRANTS 
THERE IS NO PEACE. 


But grant that it is permissible for men of the flesh to con- 
tend for the primacy, still I think that on no account is this 
ever permissible for churchmen. Yet from the example of 
men of the flesh, impiety creeps forward under the guise of reli- 
gion, and priestly power is now not merely contended for, but 
actually fought for. Of old time men were dragged unwillingly 
to the seats of honor in the Church although they were eager for 
martyrdom; but they fled from the chief seats more earnestly 
than from the prison and the cross. Today priests speak openly 
to the opposite effect and say that the proverb is a thing of 
nought. ‘We do not wish to be martyrs,” they say, “but we 
will not give to another the glory of our thrones.’ Verily a 
poor and miserable speech in the mouth of a priest who thus 
confesses Christ in such wise that he openly admits his unwill- 
ingness to follow Him. Can it be doubted whether one dies a 
true confessor who is not at all times ready to bow his neck 
to the persecutor should need arise? For Ciprian says, “If a 
bishop be afraid, all hope for him is gone.” But grant him 
leave to be afraid even; for him not to stand fast in time of 
need is a thing which is not permissible. A deserter is nox- 
ious, infamous. 

Yet there is one thing wherein they seem to imitate the 

398 


Peewee rotiveous VITI 23 399 


steadfastness of martyrs, namely if it becomes needful to fight 
for their thrones. It is alleged by some, and it is indeed the 
truth, that the office of Roman pontiff has sometimes, nay 
rather has often, been contested by ambitious men, and not 
without the shedding of fraternal blood has the pontiff entered 
the Holy of Holies. Once more there have been kindled wars 
more than civil, and priestly conflict has excused Czsar and 
Pompey and all the presumption and impious work at Philippi, 
Leucas, Mutina, or in Egypt or Spain. Are men Christians who 
thus procure the shedding of blood to the end that they rather 
than others may be advanced to the office of laying down their 
lives for their flock, which is the duty of a shepherd? Do 
they rend the Church asunder and profane the sanctuary, to 
the end that there may be somewhat to build again and sanctify? 
Perhaps they wrack the nations with extortion, harry king- 
doms, plunder the resources of churches, only to the end that 
they may create for themselves the opportunity and means of 
deserving well, only to the end that they may set all things in 
order and that they may snatch from their competitors the 
necessity of ministering to and providing for the poor. But if, 
on the contrary, their object is to procure but a wider license 
and larger impunity for themselves, to heap up money, to favor, 
aggrandize and corrupt their flesh and blood, to ennoble their 
family, if in short they seek their own glory in the Church, 
lording it haughtily over their flocks rather than being an 
example unto them, then although with their lips they pretend 
to assume the pastoral office, they are more rightly to be num- 
bered among tyrants than among princes. The philosophers 
say, and I think truly, that there is nothing in human af- 
fairs better nor more useful than man, and among men them- 
selves nothing better nor more useful than a prince, whether 
ecclesiastical or temporal; on the contrary there is nothing more 
hurtful to man than man, and among them the temporal or 
ecclesiastical tyrant is more hurtful than any other. But cer- 


400 John of Salisbury 


tainly of the two kinds, the ecclesiastical is worse than the 
temporal. For salt which has lost its savor is altogether good 
for nothing save to be thrown out of doors and trodden under 
foot by men. Further, 


“?Tis Love of gold alone that knows not how to fear the sword, 
or death; 
Laws may perish and be lost without a contest; 
But wealth, thou vilest part of things, thou hast set strife in 
motion,” + 


Therefore unity is divided, solidarity cleft asunder, sincerity 
corroded, holiness stained, and a new judgment of the world 
proclaimed ; and its prince, who was expelled by the suffering of 
Christ, returns again and spreads blocks of stumbling; so that 
blessed indeed is he who is not caught in his entanglements : 


“With such increase of new crimes do they contend which shall rule 
the world? 

It had scarce cost so much of civil war to provide that neither 
should !” 2 


The right way to eminence was taught by Christ, who did 
not wish His disciples to resemble the kings of the gentiles that 
have lordship over their subjects and they that have authority 
are called benefactors; * but rather that he that is greater should 
of his own accord humble himself, and prove his title to the 
office of ministry in preference to others solely by lawful means 
and peacefully, all contention and resort to force being utterly 
put aside. But these men have preferred another way, climb- 
ing up in opposition to their brethren; and rejecting the humil- 
ity of service, they lust after lordship more even than the kings 
of the gentiles; nor is there any doubt that, their charitv 


1 Lucan, Phars. iii, 118-121. 2Lucan, Phars. ii, 60-63. 
8 Luke xxii, 25. 


Policraticus VIII 23 401 


cooling, nay rather becoming wholly extinct, they place their 
thrones toward the north; and they hate their peers who have 
been promoted. Would that those who looked upon such times 
had followed the advice of Brutus, from which he was turned 
by the influence of Cato when the civil war impended. For 
he had decided to refrain his hands from civil strife, wherein 
the more gladly and boldly a man mixes, the more unrighteous 
and monstrous does he show himself to be. Therefore he says: 


“After the war, thou wilt not hold Brutus an enemy of either Pom- 
pey or Cesar, no matter which is victorious.” 4 


If, therefore, those for lordship over whom the schismatic rivals 
are contending were truly wise, they would leave them to carry 
on their contest alone and unaided, and would fear to lend help 
to either, being doubtful as to which will in the end be the 
victor, but being certain of the greatness of the ruin which im- 
pends upon the vanquished. 


“TE you shift the point of view, neither side in a war ever has un- 
stained hands.” > 


And again: 


“The cause which was victorious was that which pleased the God, 
but Cato chose the vanquished.” ® 


Let the world applaud when either has won the victory by his 
own unaided efforts, but let it rejoice with more genuine joy 
if both or neither vanquishes. Let them meet, therefore, if 
you will, on the island of Licaonia, or any other place which 
seems better fitted for wars or duels; because the ancients, ac- 
cording to Quintilian, gave the name of wars to what we now 
call duels; and so without danger or damage to the world or 


4Lucan, Phars. ii, 283. 5 Lucan, Phars. vii, 263. 
6 Lucan, Phars. i, 128. 


402 John of Salisbury 


to the City let that one of the duellists conquer whom God has 
either approved or has at least permitted to be victorious. And 
let the defeated contender, if the victor so pleases, be drowned 
in the Tiber, or if it seems good to deal with him in gentler 
fashion, let him be thrust into the monastery of the Cave, and 
~ let the abbot, when he opens the cloister, or rather the prison, of 
the place to receive him, assure him that it has been prepared 
for him not as having been condemned, but merely defeated ; for 
verily, : 


“There was never sincerity so great as to choose the unfortunate for 
its friends.” * 


But as for him who has won the victory, that is to say the 
stronger and more violent of the two, let him be deported as a 
perpetual exile to Lipare or some other island, and be con- 
demned to work in the quarries or mines. For the crime of 
schism reduces to an equality those whom it contaminates ; ex- 
cept insofar as the one who is the stronger, or rather the 
fiercer, is generally the worse and more wicked of the two. 
What is more hurtful or more hateful than civil war? Surely 
nothing except the fury of schismatics or the pestilence of her- 
esy. Of which two it were not easy to say which is the more 
hurtful, if indeed there is any way of separating them quan- 
titatively. Clearly civil wars will cease if the rash presumption 
which instigates them finds none to come to its assistance. 
Nor is there any man who can stir up his fellow-citizens to 
frenzy unless to some extent their own madness lures them on. 
Truly the necessity of acting the madman because others do 
so is either wholly absent or largely imaginary. This opens 
a door to many dangers, and those of the gravest kind, of 
which no one can well avoid the outcome except by taking 
precautions against the condition which gives rise to them. 


7 Lucan, Phars. viii, 535. 


Policraticus VIII 232 403 


This was intimated by the gravest of poets, or if you prefer 
an orator and think that Quintilian phrased the idea better, I 
will not object, so long as it is established that precautions 
should be taken in advance against those things which can issue 
in public perils, and that the whole community cannot be co- 
erced by a single individual to follow after wickedness against 
its own will. For the poet says: 


“This soldier, although as yet unstained by blood, 

Dreads the things which he might have done. Why beat thy breast ? 

Why groan so madly? Why weep these idle tears? 

Dost thou not admit thou didst stoop to the crime of shine own 
free will? 

Dost thou so fear the man whom thou thyself makest to be fearful? 

Let him sound the trumpet to war; do thou disregard the dire sig- 
nal; 

Let him advance the standards; do thou not move; and then Civil 
Fury 


Will fade away, and Cesar, a private citizen, will love his son-in- 
iw. 


This, this is the way whereby if the Church of God were to 
erect herself into the freedom of the Spirit, if she were to 
refuse to submit to the service of wickedness, either schisms 
would be altogether quelled, or else schismatics would contend 
only among themselves, and the bond of unity would remain 
-unbroken! Meanwhile let the Church refrain her hands, since 
the sword of Peter who thirsted for blood with carnal affection 
is now by God’s mandate shut up in its sheath, and the disciples 
who burn to root out the tares are bidden to be patient and 
await the coming of the harvesting angels. Let the solidarity 
of unity therefore pray that the unhewn stone whereon the 
Church is founded, which schismatics assail, which brings unity 
out of division, may draw together all dissentients into itself, 


8 Lucan, Phars. iv, 181-188. 


404. John of Salisbury 


even as He bade that His garment should not be divided, but 
should be kept entire and that the faithful should draw lots 
therefor. So I say let the prayer of unity be that faith may not 
fail or be found wanting, and that it may not, by seeking in. 
the sieve of Satan, scatter the wheat, but rather sift it. 
Let us pray for peace, let us seek after peace, let us pursue it 
even when it flies from us. Let us remember the example of 
Him, who though He could have led forth more than twelve 
legions of angels, yet by His exaltation upon the cross gained 
all things; for the merit of His death has so exalted Him that 
to His glory every knee should bend. | 

Priestly wars draw wicked schismatics into them, but they 
also make the righteous who consent to them doers of evil. 
Let them therefore remain inactive and aloof, standing afar 
off with Peter until they see the end. Let them recollect the 
lines of the heathen poet : 


“Tf rage gave weapons to the divine dwellers in Heaven, 
Or if the earth-born giants attempted the stars, 

Still human piety should not be so daring as to deem 

That by its weapons or its worship it can benefit Jove.” ® 


This thought, it would seem, ought to be kept in mind in those 
matters where 


“Tt is wicked to ask or to know which side more justly took up 
pemecnl? 


For if the heretic or schismatic assails the Catholic, then and 
in that case it is a pious act to go to the aid of the Truth, 
and obey the Roman pontiff with the utmost devotion. This is 
certainly the case where the fact is definitely known; but the 
schismatic often falsely pretends to be Catholic. Who, how- 


9 Lucan, Phars. iii, 315-318. 10 Lucan, Phars. i, 126-127. 


Ppreeraticus VITI 22 405 


ever, will be so bold as to pass judgment on the supreme pon- 
tiff, whose case is reserved for the decision of God alone? 
Verily, whosoever shall attempt this, will labor in vain, but 
can in no wise profit. Nor do I circumscribe the name of 
pope narrowly; let him be held for pope, whoever he may be, 
provided his election has proceeded canonically. Jonah, to 
prevent shipwreck, made shipwreck of himself, and preferred 
to perish alone rather than involve others in his perils; yet he 
had not undertaken the duty and care of ruling the ship. Salo- 
mon drew the inference of maternal affection from the fact 
that she preferred to surrender her child to the falsehood of 
the harlot rather than see it divided. But these men prefer to 
put the Church in peril and see it torn asunder rather than re- 
frain from usurping honor and bringing disgrace upon innocent 
Mother Church. “This woman,” said Salomon, “is its mother, 
because from love she refuses to have it divided.” On the 
contrary, he is a stepson who 


“Searches with steel the vitals of his mother.” 


How many and what frightful shocks and tumults were 
caused by the clash when the son of Peter Leon strove to rise 
up from the north against Innocent of blessed memory, fifth 
predecessor of our Lord Adrian, whose life and felicity may 
God prolong forever in His bosom! And did not his fall drag 
down with it a portion of the stars themselves? Who knows 
not of Egidius of Tusculum? Who knows not of Peter of 
Pisa, whose like there was none or hardly one other in the 
curia? Who can count the bishops throughout almost the whole 
of Italy who were overthrown? Verily, since that great over- 
throw occurred within our own time or memory, it is incred- 
ible that any should be so wretchedly ambitious as not to fear 
to split the Church. I cannot believe that there is any so unfeel- 
ing as not to prefer rather to be destroyed himself than that 


406 John of Salisbury 


for his sake so great a turmoil should come to pass. It be- 
cause our sins require it, any such hangman shall ascend the 
throne of Peter, and in defiance of the Lord succeed to the 
government of His vessel, surely he will make shipwreck and 
not undeservedly, since even Peter, who was called by the Lord, — 
was terrified by the great tempest and was almost drowned, and 
the ship which carried the Lord as a passenger despaired of 
safety until Christ was roused from His sleep by their prayers. 
Verily he who ascends shamefully shall even more shamefully be 
whirled about and shall be most shamefully cast down, nor 
do those things have happy endings which issue from a bad 
beginning. Discord and strife are the surest sign of iniquity 
and disloyalty ; indeed 


“Discord ruins smallest things, 
The greatest hold by peace.” ** 


Phaéton in the fable, through his ambition to drive his father’s 
chariot, set the whole world on fire until at length, through the 
mercy of God, he was himself consumed by fire and fell head- 
long amid the fragments of the chariot. ‘Then 


oa, ee 


They say there came a day without the sun’; 


and so while the Church, set on fire with schism, burns, Christ 
seems to be absent. Ycarus, too, when elated by youthful levity 
he was borne aloft into Heaven, was afterwards drowned in 
the waves of the sea. For he was cast down while he was 
exalted; indeed the exaltation of the impious is but the prelude 
to their heavier fall. 

For who is a greater monster of iniquity than the man who 
drags down the ministry of peace, the service of sacrifice, into 
brawls and hangman’s work? To what end, I ask, does such 


11 Lucan, Phars. ii, 272-3. 12 Ov., Metam. ii, 331. 


Policraticus VIII 23 407 


enormity tend? To the end of life? But their end is destruc- 
tion. To the end of glory? But the glory of such men is 
their shame. To the end of pleasure? Therefore indeed the 
God of such is their belly. To the end that they may be en- 
nobled in flesh and blood? But flesh and blood shall not pos- 
sess the kingdom of God. Against these men of the flesh not 
I but the trumpet of the apostle thunders these and even graver 
things: “Whose end,” he says, “is destruction, whose god is 
their belly, and whose glory is their shame, because they mind 
earthly things.” ** If their end is that they may gratify their 
own will by lording it over others, which is the act of a tyrant, 
nothing less shall happen to them; for verily there is no safety 
or peace for the tyrant. Inquire of Damocles, and he will 
confess that he learned this from the tyrant of Sicily when he 
was in danger on all sides of falling into blazing coals, and a 
sword, hanging as it were by.a weaver’s thread, threatened at 
a nod to descend upon his neck like an executioner in the midst 
of so many regal delights. The same lesson is taught by 
Theodosius, in Claudian; for he says: 


“The man who strikes terror into others is in greater fear himself ; 
That is the fate which is appointed for tyrants; 
They must envy the illustrious and slaughter the brave. 
They must live hedged by swords and fenced in by poisons; 
They must dwell in a citadel that is insecure, and threaten while 
they tremble. 
Bear thou thyself therefore as a citizen and a father; 
Take counsel for all; and let not thine own wishes but the public 
will be thy ruling guide.” 14 


“Blush, O Sydon, for the sea speaketh” ; 1° because here the man 
of the flesh speaks that which the man of the spirit must blush 


13 Philipp. iii, 19. uf 
14 Claudian, IV Con. Hon., 290-205. 15 Isaiah xxiii, 4. 


408 John of Salisbury” 


to hear. For if priests did indeed heed these words, they 
would by no means run through weapons and through foes to 
seize the chief seats in the Church. 

Although all defer to the supreme pontificate as the very 
apex of things, still in my own opinion, I think that so far as 
‘5 consistent with the safety of religion a wise man ought to 
shun it rather than take it upon him. For, to speak the truth 
from my own knowledge, it seems to me the most laborious and 
wretched post, so far as pertains to the condition of the present 
age. For if he pursues his own avarice, it is death to him; 
but if not, he will not escape the hands and tongues of the 
Romans. For unless he has that wherewith he may stop up 
their mouths and restrain their hands, he must harden his eyes, 
his ears, his heart to endure their revilings, their outrages and 
their sacrileges. Now there are three things which beyond 
others pervert utterly the judgment even of wise men, namely 
love of gifts, respect of persons, and credulity. For no one 
can at the same time be influenced by these things and ad- 
minister justice. Therefore it is needful that the Roman pon- 
tiff should be immune from these things, since it is his duty to 
curb the excesses of all. But if he hates gifts, who will force 
presents upon him against his will? And how then, if he does 
not receive, will he be able to bestow? And how, if he does 
not bestow, will he be able to please the Romans? If he does 
not show personal favoritism to those who are prominent 
among them, how will he be able to hold his ground in the face 
of them? For he will scarcely be able to judge of a sacerdotal 
cause in conclave without being compelled to admit them into all 
his councils. And what of the fact that he must condemn 
simony, the taking of gifts, and the receipt of compensation ? 
If he follows these practices, must he not condemn himself with 
his own voice? If in supreme power there is the least freedom 
from restraint, verily he who is over the laws is subjected to no 
law, but is all the more strictly obliged not to commit unlawful 


Peerecraticus VIII ‘2 3 409 


acts. And for this reason the Roman pontiff has the least law- 
ful liberty by virtue of the very fact that he has the most. And 
what is a heavier burden than the care of all the churches? 
The privilege of the apostle descends to his successors, and 
clearly a part of the privilege is that whereof the apostle speaks 
to the Corinthians: “Who is weak,” he says, “and I am not 
weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?” ** If you 
do not wish to go through all aspects of the matter, let him who 
contends for the primacy once prove his right to such a post, 
and I think he will speedily surrender the place. Besides, he 
who is pontiff of Rome must of necessity, because of the con- 
dition the Church is now in, be the “servant of servants’; and 
not merely nominally and for the sake of glory, as some think, 
but actually and in substance, as one who must serve the 
servants of God, even though unwillingly. For each of the 
three persons of the Godhead is a servant and a dispenser of 
His mercy or justice. The angel is a servant, the human being 
is a servant, good men are servants, bad men are servants, and 
the devil himself, the prince of the world, is a servant. There- 
fore even the Romans are servants of God, although they: are 
tyrants whose servant the Roman pontiff must necessarily be, 
to the point that unless he is their servant he must of necessity 
cease to be either pontiff or Roman. Who then doubts that he 
is the servant of servants? I call upon Lord Adrian, whose 
times may God render fortunate, to bear witness to this fact, 
namely that no one is more wretched than the Roman pontiff, 
that the plight of no man is more miserable than his. And 
though there were no other cause of harm, he must necessarily 
sink down speedily under the burden of labor alone. For he 
confesses that he has found so many miseries upon that throne 
that on making a comparison of the present with the past, all 
the bitterness of his preceding life seems as joy and the great- 


16JT Cor xi. 20 


410 John of Salisbury 


est felicity. He says that the throne of the Roman pontiff is 
a prickly seat, his mantle sewed together everywhere with the 
sharpest thorns, and of such great weight that it weighs down, 
exhausts and crushes the strongest shoulders; and that the 


crown and mitre rightly seem bright only because they are of — 


fire. And he says that he wishes that he might never have left 
his native soil of England, and had remained forever unknown 
in the cloisters of blessed Rufus, rather than to have exposed 
himself to such great anguish, were it not that he dare not re- 
sist the dispensation of God. While he is still alive, make in- 
quiry of him directly and believe one who speaks from experi- 
ence. And the wisest thing of all that he said to me was when 
he added that as he ascended step by step from a simple clerk 
of the cloister through all the offices up to supreme pontiff, he 
never found that anything worth while was added to his previous 
happiness and tranquil peace by his ascent. And, to use his 
own words (for when I am with him, his graciousness never 
wishes that anything shall be hid from my eyes), he says, “God 
has ever enlarged me upon the anvil and with the hammer; 
but now may He support with His right hand, if He pleases, 
the weight which He has laid on my weakness, for of myself 
I cannot support it.” 

Is not the man most deserving of misery who fights to at- 
tain such misery? Let the richest of men be chosen, on the 
following day he will be poor and burdened by obligations to 
almost countless creditors. What then will happen to him who 
is called by no election, but against the will of Christ as ex- 
pressed in His members forcibly intrudes with blind and bloody 
ambition, and not without the shedding of fraternal blood? 
This is verily to succeed Romulus among parricides, not Peter 
in the care and management of the fold entrusted to him. 


Ae ah ae 


cit ae a Oty 
Mg vt. 


5 et ine 


ay 
aig 
Bi 


id ’ 
*) 
men 


i aie 
WAT ry tye 


= 


bn 
7 


TH eb eee 
Lit fr) 


